


Farore's Paradox

by Skybloodfox



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, Zelda - Fandom
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Auction, Good Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda), I'm Bad At Tagging, I've wanted to write this for a long time, M/M, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Omega Link, Post-Game(s), Slow Burn, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:27:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21628357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skybloodfox/pseuds/Skybloodfox
Summary: The Great Fairies have watched the Hero of Time live, die, suffer, over and over in an endless cycle of time. They've had enough. Someone has to watch out for him and give him a chance at a better life, even if it has unintended consequences they never thought possible.
Relationships: Ganondorf/Link (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 144
Kudos: 766





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been planning this story for a *long* time now. I'm playing a bit with the canon so things will change eventually.

The Goddess of Time had chosen her hero. A boy raised by the children of the forest under the guidance of the Great Deku Tree. He would know joy, and sorrow, but also hope and failure. He was to cross time and time again, to see wonders and horrors that no mortal should witness. Again and again, he would travel. He would die. He would win. He would be sent away. As the sun rose and set, so would the hero’s cycle; again and again and again. His reward for his journey would never be enough to comfort him on the pain and suffering he experienced in order to ensure the reign of one family.

The Goddess of Time had chosen her hero because of his heart. A bright light in the darkness of the world. He was her chosen one, gifted to speak with the animals and spirits of the forests, to see beyond what others saw. It was only fitting, given he was blessed by the goddess of Farore.

The Goddess of Time saw all and knew all of a thousand different strands of time and fate and destiny and will. She knew her hero would fight and win, that he would fight and lose, but he would fight and at the end of the day, his destiny would never truly be his own because he would be used again and again until his light dimmed and he turned to ash as the world fell apart around him.

So, to say it was a surprise when the five Great Fairies plotted against the Goddess of Time in order to save the boy raised amongst the children of the forest from his destiny would be putting it mildly. This future, the ones the Great fairies were meddling in, two small choices would ensure that the sun rose, but the Hero’s path would be a very, _very_ , different one then what was chosen for him. 


	2. Chapter 2

Gerudo Fortress was just that: a fortress on the edge of the desert that they called home. Their real home was further beyond the sand dunes and past the Desert Colossus Ganondorf had trained in since he was a child. All Gerudo children trained in it: honing their combat abilities, learning how to tend to wounds, and how to survive. Those who failed or were injured were sent back home to work the rivers, the textile mills, or farmland the goddesses blessed them with. Of all the clans and people that inhabited the land of Hyrule, they were frowned upon. Sneered at and treated as thieves by the other races, especially those that ruled. The fact that all Gerudo’s were born alphas meant nothing to the people of Hyrule who treated the women of the clan as betas.

Ganondorf pulled his cloak tighter, the winds rising around him as he rode deeper into the wasteland and toward the Desert Colossus. First, he would meet his mothers, the ones who had raised him and taught him magic, and then he would seek the Great Fairy of Magic for Nayru’s love, and blessing for the journey to come. 

As if by magic, the sand storm around him cleared and he gazed up at the stone-carved statue of the woman with palms upward. A flicker of light by the entrance and he saw the small hunched forms of Koume and Kotake waiting for him. He eased the reins of his horse and stopped before them, frowning slightly.

“Lord Ganondorf,” Koume began before Kotake waved her broom.

“Enough, this is too important to wait!”

“What? Nothing is more important than manners.” Koume snapped.

Ganondorf sighed. He pushed back the hood of his cloak and rested his hand on his thigh, watching as his adoptive mothers began bickering with each other. When he noticed the first spark of magic, he cleared his throat.

“What exactly is so important? I must ride out soon.” Ganondorf said.

Koume and Kotake paused. They glanced at each other before Koume looked away. She picked up her broom and began sweeping the sand off of the ancient carved steps. Ganon frowned and looked to Kotake.

“We’ve had a vision,” Kotake admitted.

“Oh?” Ganondorf sat straighter, his gaze focused. “Of my journey?”

“Your death.”

The wind kicked up, almost threatening to devour them but it held back, swirling around the feet of Ganondorf’s horse instead. He narrowed his gaze, his lips pursed. “So, I will die on my journey there?”

“No,” Koume stopped sweeping, her head bowing. “We saw you fighting in the ruins of a castle. A beast, a monster, twisted with the power of the Triforce and gone mad. A princess stood, shining a golden light on you while her knight killed you.”

Ganondorf slowly nodded. Death didn’t scare him, going mad and becoming a monster was concerning, but he was not afraid to die. Still… He looked towards the entrance of The Great Fairy Fountain, the one that could bless him with Nayru’s Love if the fairy deemed him worthy.

“She will not answer our summons,” Kotake sighed.

“Maybe she will answer mine.” Ganondorf pulled on the reins, and with the nudge of his heels on his horses side, he headed towards the cave.

* * *

The inside of the cave was drastically cooler than outside in the sun and heat and Ganondorf fought the shiver that wanted to crawl up his spine. He approached the fountain, noting the triforce symbol on the floor and leaned down, scooping the fresh, clean, water out and splashing it onto his face, almost sighing in relief as he scooped another handful and brought it to his neck, rubbing it along the back and allowing his eyes to shut for a minute.

“Poor Gerudo King.”

Ganondorf’s eyes snapped open and he very slowly looked up to the Great Fairy leering down at him. She was as predatory as she was beautiful in her silk garment and covered in blooming vines. For a moment, he was reminded of the stories Kotake and Koume would tell him as a child of the Great Fairy’s luring men into their fountains to drown and consume their souls.

“Great Fairy,” Ganondorf murmured.

“Hmm… you’ve come to me for a blessing, have you? Protection?” The great Fairy purred, her red hair fanning her face.

“Yes.”

“Alas, I cannot give it to you, Poor Gerudo King. Nayru’s Love is destined for another.” The Great Fairy sighed dramatically. She shifted to lie on her side, her gaze pitying.

Ganondorf straightened. “Who? Why do you call me ‘poor’?”

“Farore has chosen her heir, and thus Nayru will bless that one. They are who will receive her blessing and protection. The sweet thing will need it.”

“Heir? Who is she?”

The Great Fairy snickered and Ganondorf’s scowl deepened. The Great Fairy tutted. “Listen, Poor Gerudo King—”

“I am _not_ poor!”

“You are heart poor.”

Ganondorf stared at the Great Fairy who once more leaned closer to him, her expression hardening. “Farore has chosen her heir, but they are not meant for this world of cruelty and falsehoods. They wear a hero’s heart. They are innocent. Save them, and Nayru and Farore will bless you.”

“My mother’s say I will die.”

The Great Fairy tilted her head, humming to herself. “Yes. That is one outcome. But listen to me, Poor Gerudo King: Save the heir, let love grow, and Farore and Nayru will protect you as Din watches over you.”

Before Ganondorf could say anything else, the Great Fairy suddenly burst out laughing and disappeared into the fountains depth. He stood there, staring at the ripples in the water as they slowly calmed before he turned away and headed towards the unyielding bright light of the desert sun.

* * *

When Ganondorf emerged, Kotake and Koume were riding their brooms, hovering by the entrance next to his horse. Without a word he lifted himself into the saddle, shushing his horse as it shifted beneath him.

“Well? What did she say?” Kotake asked.

“Farore has chosen her heir and Nayru has sided with her. I am to find and protect this soul.” Ganondorf sighed.

Kotake and Koume exchanged a knowing glance.

“What is it? I’ll have to ride all night to reach the castle for the morning.” Ganondorf lifted the hood of his cloak to shield his face from the sun.

“Nothing, our son. We’ll discuss it when you return. May Din watch over you.” Koume said.

“Thank you.” Ganondorf’s expression softened before he dug his heels into his horses side and it turned, bolting into the desert with Ganondorf’s cloak billowing behind him.

Kotake lifted her hand to shield her gaze as they watched Ganondorf ride off. When she was certain he wouldn’t hear them, she turned to Koume.

“What?” Koume raised an eyebrow.

“Farore wants her hero protected,” Kotake said.

“Yes.” Koume wrinkled her nose.

“By Din’s chosen.”

“So?” Koume huffed.

“Din is the alpha, Nayru the beta, and Farore is the omega.” Kotake rolled her hand.

“You worry too much, Kotake. Come, let us make some tea.” Koume lead her broom towards the entrance of the colossus while Kotake looked towards the desert once more.

To Be Continued...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry this has taken so long to update. There's been a lot going on. Saying that, I'm going to try and make it a goal to update at least once a week to get my ass in gear and actually write this story that I've wanted to for the last few years now. 
> 
> ALSO
> 
> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS FOR THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS!!! I was blown away! THANK YOU!!!

Ganon was sealed away to never harm another soul in Hyrule and Link had done it. The Sages had done it. _Zelda_ had done it. Link almost failed, almost slipped on the rooftop of the old castle before he’d raised the Master Sword for the final slash and killed Ganon. He’d watched the life leave Ganon’s monstrous eyes, seen the way they almost begged for _something_ before they shut and then the blinding light of the Sage’s powers and, well, with the collapse of the castle… he hadn’t had time to wait. He and Zelda escaped.

Link didn’t know what to expect afterward. Through the countless nights, the endless horrors and creatures he’d fought, the spirits, ghosts and people he’d encountered, a part of him always wondered what would happen afterward but Link had pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the next location. On the next dungeon. On the next creature who he would have to slay and drench the Master Sword with blood.

In the end though, Zelda wanted the Ocarina of Time. Link gave it to her. She asked for one final mission: Go back and warn her younger self what Ganondorf was planning so they could stop him. _So they could trap him_.

It wasn’t really a request; it was an order because when Zelda played the song of time, Link found himself back in the temple of time as a child with Navi hovering close by.

Navi drifted up to the roof of the temple, her small form glittering in the sunlight before she ducked back down and flittered before Link.

“We’re back,” Navi whispered. “She sent us back in time.”

Link swallowed. “So…we give her the message and then we return to the future? To join the others?”

Navi hovered, uncertain and silent. Link felt a small rock of panic settle in his belly. He would go back…right? Zelda would let him. Link let go of the Master Sword, gave it one last glance, and stepped off the alter. His stomach rumbled and he frowned, rubbing it

“Come on, Navi. Let’s go.”

Wordlessly, they left the Temple of Time.

* * *

The last time Link had been through the town before Hyrule castle, it had been filled with ReDeads. The undead guardians that filled the graves outside of Kakariko village and the Shadow Temple. When he stepped into the town center, he paused and stared at the people that went about their daily lives, acting like they wouldn’t soon flee the town and head to Kakariko for safety. Like the undead wouldn’t soon fill the crumbled and ruined streets, their moaning causing the hair along his arms and the back of his neck to rise.

If only there had been a way to stop Ganondorf from entering the Temple of Time.

A man bumped into Link, pushing him forward. “Stupid omega! Look where you’re going!”

Link shot him a look, his small hands curling into fists at his side as the man headed for the back alley.

“Ignore him, Link. He’s just a stupid alpha.” Navi whispered beneath Link’s hood.

“Yeah…stupid.” Link said, his voice low. He turned towards the path to Hyrule Castle, ignoring the curious looks of the people, and tried to fight the rising swell of panic in his belly.

He walked up the hill, his gaze darting to the trees and shadows that cast long along the grass. It was so different then the death and destruction he had encountered on his way to Ganondorf’s castle. The air was sweeter: the summer sun had warmed ground and the grass revelled in the light. Link could hear Navi breathing in deep before she let out a soft sigh, and he couldn’t help but smile slightly. She had suffered in the heat of the Fire Temple, mostly spending her time hidden in his heavy Goron tunic while Link tried to keep them both from burning too badly. Link could still smell his burning hair when one of the fire keese had gotten too close for comfort.

“Link, listen!”

Navi’s voice right in his ear caused Link to freeze mid-step, his eyes darting around him. His hand was already on the Kokiri sword before he understood why Navi had made him stop. Someone was calling for them. For _him_.

“What?” Frowning, Link let go of the sword and looked further up the road. “That voice…”

“It…No. The Great Fairy?” Navi flew a few feet in front of him before returning to him. “I think we should go. We should go to her.”

Link swallowed. “She helped us last time…do you think she’ll help us again?”

“I don’t know. They’ve never called for you before. Maybe _she_ needs _our_ help.”

Link squared his small shoulders and headed for the fairy fountain located outside of the castle. When the turned the corner, they saw Malon singing by the base of the vines Link would climb to sneak into the castle.

“Isn’t that Malon? From Lon Lon Ranch?” Navi slipped from under his cap and fluttered a few feet in front of him before she turned. “Link, it has to be her! Link…Link?”

“We’ve done this before.” It was a whisper.

The Great Fairy’s voice grew louder but Malon, and the few guards Link could see, didn’t seem to hear her.

Navi wavered in the air before she flew back to Link and settled on his shoulder. “Maybe…maybe it will be different, yeah? Zelda, she wouldn’t have sent us _too_ far back…right?”

Instead of answering, Link approached Malon. Auburn hair and smiling, she paused when she saw Link and laughed. “Hello, Fairy boy!” Her voice was light, her eyes wide and mischievous. Different than when he had last seen her; heavy bags under her eyes, exhaustion, and pain shining in them, and her skin reeking of Ingo’s scent.

“Hello,” Link hated how his voice cracked.

It was a blur. Link could barely remember. He took the egg, it would become the chicken Malon promised, Link knew it would, and he silently slipped past the guards. He needed to awaken Talon and watch the beta run off to get home to the farm.

The farm he would lose to Ingo and Malon would suffer.

‘ _Link, Link, come here, child,’_ the Great Fairy called again from behind the boulder blocking the entranceway to her fountain.

Link looked at the egg and carefully placed it in the pouch that held his seeds he used for the slingshot. It would be warm and safe in there. He didn’t have any bombs, but he should be able to squeeze into the small space between the boulder and the entrance.

‘ _Link, Link, child, hurry…’_

“She’s so insistent. I hope she’s okay.” Navi sighed.

Instead of answering, Link wedged his small form, taking a moment to breathe before letting it out and slipping into the hole. He crawled forward on his hands and knees, the soft dirt soothing against the callouses on his small knees and palms of his hands. He crawled, Navi’s soft glow the only light as it illuminated the path forward. The Great Fairy’s voice a summon neither of them could refuse.

Eventually, the entrance widened and Link climbed to his feet. He brushed the dirt off of his knees and hands and slowly approached the fountain. He eyed the water briefly, thirsty, but now was not the time. He raised his fairy ocarina to his lips and prepared to use Zelda’s lullaby when the Great Fairy appeared on her own, her shrieking laugh almost causing him to drop the ocarina to the ground. He held it close to his chest, his eyes wide as the Great Fairy hovered in the air and peered down at him with her large eyes.

“Hello, sweet child.” The Great Fairy cooed.

“Do you need help, Great Fairy?” Navi asked.

The Great Fairy laughed softly, the sounds echoing off of the walls and causing the water to shimmer beneath her. Her eyes remained fixed on Link as she answered. “No, sweet child. It is you who needs my help.”

“I do?” Link frowned.

“Yes. You have travelled long and far and fought many, _many_ , battles. When did you last rest? When did you last sooth your thirst?” The Great Fairy’s gaze was focused on Link.

Link’s stomach rumbled and he blushed, hugging his waist. “I…It has been a while and I am very tired.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? We would have rested before coming.” Navi soothed beside him.

“You will rest here, boy. Drink from the water of this fountain to qualm your thirst. I will watch over you while you sleep, I will keep you safe.” The Great Fairy said.

“But…the chicken…” Link rested his hand on the outside of his pocket where the egg was kept.

“It will hatch, child, and awaken you. Now, drink of the fountains waters and rest.” The Great Fairy drifted upwards and she curled on her side. She gestured to the edge of the water.

Link stepped closer and knelt on the hard stone. Using his hands, he scooped the water up and drank the cool refreshing liquid. He almost sighed as it eased the hunger in his belly. He scooped up more, drinking his fill. When he was done, he washed his face with it, scrubbing it clean.

A large hand rested gently on the top of his head and Link startled. Without realizing it, he reached for his Kokiri sword only for another hand to rest on his sword hilt. He looked up, wide-eyed and panicked, and met the Great Fairy’s stern face.

“Sleep, Farore’s chosen.” She whispered, and Link’s eyes started to droop. He would have fallen forward but she caught him and cradled him in her arms.

“Great Fairy!” Navi cried. “What have you done? Link!”

“Hush, Navi.” The Great Fairy murmured, “Farore’s chosen has traveled long and far. He needs his rest.”

“But…but the egg. Princess Zelda…” Navi whispered.

“Are you his friend, Navi?” The Great Fairy pressed her cheek to Link’s forehead. She peered at the small fairy’s hovering form. “His true and trusted friend?”

“Of course! I’ve been with him since the beginning!” Navi bristled.

“Then you know his fate is not his own.”

Navi swallowed. “The-The great Deku Tree—”

“Chose you. Will you choose your friend? You will lose him. He will suffer. He will die again and again. He will kill the Gerudo King. Zelda will send him back. He will travel far and wide haunted by these events only to return to the temple and fade away once his mission is complete This story has been told time after time after time. We Great Fairy’s know of what he endures, of every visit, of every injury, of every time he sought sanctuary in our fountains.”

“What do you mean? This is the first time we’ve done this.” Navi wavered.

“For you, it seems the first time, but for us, this has happened many times.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because for all his adventures and travels, he is still a child, and for what comes next, he will need guidance. He will need a true friend.” The Great Fairy explained.

“What comes next?” Navi frowned.

“Something new. Something different.” The Great Fairy’s eyes sparkled.

Navi flew forward slightly before flying to Link’s side. She stroked his cheek and looked up to the Great Fairy.

“What about the Temple of Time?”

“It will be sealed. We Great Fairy’s will take the Kokiri emerald and hide it in a world of twilight where it will be safe and sealed until the Moon falls from the heavens and the giants weep.” The words were whispered soft but Navi heard them clearly.

“Malon’s father?”

The Great Fairy chuckled softly. “Do not worry about him. I shall ensure he is awakened.”

Navi looked back to the entrance of the cave and then to Link. She bobbed, her wings chiming with the sound. “Where do we go?”

“Hide in his hat, as you did in the past. When you awaken, you will be disoriented but do not be afraid, it is what is intended.” The Great Fairy said.

“For Link,” Navi whispered. She gave the Great Fairy one last look before zooming to Link’s hat and slipping beneath it.

The Great Fairy smiled widely and looked down at sleeping Link in her arms. She threw her head back and laughed, the sound echoing in the fountain before she dove into the water with Link in her arms.

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Pale limbs stuck out of the sour dirt. Link stared at the circle of hands, his eyes wide.

“You see this too, right?” He whispered.

Navi whimpered from her spot inside of his hood. She had been crying and shivering in her hiding place since they found the first puddle of blood. The skeletons had warmed them of danger as they entered the secret passage found only when the water in the well of Kakariko village was gone.

Link didn’t blame her. He swallowed and slowly circled the clawed hands that stood out awaiting someone, or _something_ , to come close. The ground moved under his feet, causing him to stumble and the hand closest to them lunged. He ducked out of the way, yelling as it clawed at his arm, drawing blood. The ground moved again and a pale, fleshy, _thing_ emerged. It had no hands but sharp bones extending from its wrists. He opened its mouth and _laughed_.

_“Link!”_

“Link!”

Link opened his eyes and found himself in darkness. Hot panic shot through him. He _hated_ the dark. There were dangers in the dark; redeads and floating hands and skeletons and giant worms that sucked in creatures and spit out bones.

_“Link! Follow me!”_

Link fumbled blindly, his fingers tracing along the cool stone of the wall as he finally found the opening to the little cave and dropped to his knees. Navi was calling his name, but Link had to get out. He had to get out. He needed to see sunlight. For a moment he was disoriented at the cow symbol he saw on the crate before him blocking his entrance. The crates were as big as him but he shoved against, his smaller body quaking with the effort. He grunted, adrenalin pumping through his body until he’d made a path clear to a wooden door and slammed it open, freezing as morning sunlight blinded him.

He wondered if that was how the redeads felt when he’d played the sun song before them.

He dropped to his knees, drawing in shaky breaths, his whole body trembling with the effort. Navi was fluttering beside him, touching a ruddy cheek as he gasped and whispering for him to breathe.

“Fairy boy?”

Link jerked his head up, eyes wide and panicked.

Malon stood before him holding an empty milking bucket. She dropped it and took a step back before running for the farmhouse. “Dad!”

_“Link! Breathe!”_

Link gulped down big breaths of air, staring at the area around them. They were at Lon Lon Ranch and the morning sun was shining brilliantly above them.

 _“Navi? What-what happened? Why are we here?”_ Link squeaked as Navi hovered beside him.

_“The Great Fairy. She sent us here.”_

_“She did? Why? Did we do something wrong? Did…did I do something wrong?”_

Navi flew up several feet before she came close to Link’s face, nearly blinding him with her light.

 _“We did nothing wrong. She said, that-that, you and me, that the Great Fairy’s saw all the hard work you had done and-and that you needed to rest and train before the next journey. Before we see Zelda. That’s why we got sent back so far, because we have to be prepared for what next comes next. And not to worry about the Temple, they sealed it and hid the Kokiri Emerald in a safe place.”_ Navi hurriedly explained.

Link slowly blinked. _“We…we can rest?”_

 _“Yes, Link. We can rest. For now.”_

“He’s over here!” Malon’s voice carried across the field and Link and Navi looked to see Talon running behind Malon with Ingo hot on their heels.

* * *

“Where’s your family, child?”

Link sat at the kitchen table shoving the stew Talon had reheated into his mouth. Malon sat across from him, staring at him in wonder as he ate and at Navi as she drank from a small dish of fresh milk.

Talon placed a bowl of stew before Malon. He tsked as Link quickly finished the bowl and before Link could even consider asking, he refilled the bowl once more and placed it before Link. “Boy, it looks like you haven’t had a proper meal in a long time. Are you orphans?”

“Dad, they’re not orphans! They’re fairies from the forest.” Malon rolled her eyes.

Talon slowly sat down at the head of the wooden table with his own bowl of stew. “That’s not true…is it?”

Link paused, spoon inches from his lips. He glanced at Talon, then Malon, and finally Navi before looking back to Talon. “Yes. We, um, we’re from Kokiri forest.”

Malon gasped. “I _knew_ it! What with your green clothes and fairy!”

“My name is Navi, thank you very much.” Navi chimed, startling Talon and making Malon smile wide.

“So, forgive me for asking…”

“Link,” Link whispered. “My name is Link.”

“Right, Link and Navi,” Talon gestured to Navi who resumed drinking her milk. “But what are you two doing outside of the forest? I thought you fairies stayed there?”

“We do, we did, it’s just, um…” Link trailed off.

“Link is an omega,” Navi answered suddenly.

“Like me!” Malon squealed.

Talon’s thick eyebrows rose. “An omega? The fairies have omegas?”

“No, you see, umm…” Navi haltered.

“I was raised by the fairies and Great Deku Tree,” Link answered truthfully. “My mother was from Hyrule, but she died shortly after having me. She fled to the forest for protection and they raised me as one of their own.”

“Oh, you poor soul. You’re my Malon’s age, aren’t you? So…your mother would have been escaping the war, poor dear.” Talon shook his head.

Link picked up a piece of bread slathered with butter and used it to wipe the inside of his bowl. He didn’t know what was coming next: would they need to leave? Where would they go? Maybe Kakariko village? The Great Fairy had sent him away to train before he reunited with Zelda so he didn’t want to go to Hyrule castle town any time soon. So where—

“Do you want to stay?”

Link dropped the piece of bread. His head snapped up. He looked to Talon. The beta’s brown eye’s had a warmth in them, a kindness Link hadn’t seen often on his journey. He searched them, his heart starting to ache.

“What?” Link whispered because he had to say something and Navi was silent.

Talon rested his hands on either side of his bowl. He gave Malon a quick smile before focusing on Link once more. “I’m asking if you want to stay here, at Lon Lon Ranch. Now, I know we don’t have much, and we might not be as exotic as the forest or the fairies, but we got a spare space in the stable to bed down if you’d think you’d like to stay.”

“What would you want?”

“What?” Malon tilted her head.

Link cleared his throat. “What do you want in return?”

Talon blinked, startled. “Er, well, if ya would like to help Malon with the cows, and horses, and chickens, then that would be good. We could honestly use some extra help around here.” Talon added, thoughtful.

“It’s super easy,” Malon said. “The cows and horses are really friendly, and if you’re careful around the chickens, they won’t peck you. And every Sunday we go to the market to sell cheese and eggs and milk!”

“So, what do you think? Would you like to stay?” Talon asked.

Link looked at his bowl of stew and the floating piece of buttered bread. They couldn’t go back to the forest. Last time he’d been there he’d…the monsters had invaded the village. He couldn’t go back to the future through the temple either. Maybe if he stayed, he could save Malon from Ingo—

“What about Ingo?” Link blurted.

Malon and Talon both slowly blinked at Link.

“You know Ingo?” Talon said.

“He’s really grumpy. Just stay away from him.” Malon wrinkled her nose.

“Um, I just…I must have seen him before, I guess… he works here. Right?” Link asked.

“Yes. He handles cleaning out the horse and cowsheds. If he gives you trouble, just let me know, okay?” Talon said.

“Okay…okay. I, I would like to stay.”

Malon cheered. “That’s great! I’ll show you where to sleep after breakfast and then I’ll introduce you to the cows and chickens and horses. Oh, you’ll want to meet our newest foal. I named her Epona and she’s _amazing_.”

* * *

For the first time in what felt like forever, Link was having a hot bath. Malon had shown him how to heat the kettles and pour the hot water into a steel tub and add cold water to balance out the temperature to his liking. The tub had been brought into the lower part of the farmhouse, and Talon had given Link an old shirt of his to wear while Link’s green tunic and shorts dried over it. After that, Talon and Malon went upstairs to sleep and left Link to scrub himself before the crackling fire, dipping his head and emerging moments later. The water was turning dark brown as he cleaned the collected dirt and muck off of himself.

He’d had a busy day after breakfast. He’d met Ingo, the beta stinking of shit and muttering about Link being another mouth to feed. Malon ignored it and instead took Link straight to Epona and taught him her song which he mimicked with his fairy ocarina. Epona had run to him, her black eyes glittering in the light before tearing off and running around the area.

Through the rest of the day of lifting and moving around bales of hay, and finally helping Malon call the cows back to the barn. Epona had watched Link, making sure he was never too far from her piercing gaze.

_“You’re smiling.”_

Link blinked. He looked up to the ledge window where Navi had settled in on a bed of fine clothe Talon had dug from a closet for her to sleep on.

 _“I am?”_ Link whispered in Kokiri. It was something he and Navi had learned early on if they needed to speak in public or near enemies. They couldn’t understand what he was saying, except for the Gorons which spoke with a rougher accent and the Zora whose accent was more lyrical and soft. He hadn’t realized until that moment they had slipped into Kokiri all along.

Navi fluttered from the window and sat at the edge of the steel tub. _“I haven’t seen you smile in a long time, Link.”_

Link looked at his hands in the water, his small shoulders slumping. “ _Navi…”_

_“I’m glad that he’s still there.”_

_“He?”_ Link frowned.

 _“The little boy that I woke up and had to encourage to go into the Deku Tree. The little boy that…that…saw things and did-did-did…”_ Navi stumbled over her words.

_“It’s okay, Navi.”_

_“Link, no, it’s not—”_

_“If you want to go back to the forest, it’s okay. The others will probably let you go back, but I…I, Navi, I can’t—”_ Link’s voice started to crack and he squeezed his eyes shut, his lips souring. He knew the others blamed him for the Great Deku Tree’s death and with Saria gone as a sage…

She would still be there.

Saria would still be there in the forest.

_“Link.”_

A small hand touched the downward corner of his lips and Link slowly opened his eyes. Navi was before him, hovering.

_“I won’t leave you, Link. Not after everything that’s happened, not after everything they did to you, to us. I won’t leave you. If this is our new home, well, then it’s our new home and that’s okay. But Link? Wherever you go, I’ll be with you. Okay?”_

Link covered his eyes with his hands and nodded, tears rolling down his cheeks as he sat in the tub and started to cry. He needed this. He needed this time to rest and heal. The Great Fairy had been right. How was he to meet with Princess Zelda when he was like this?

Navi landed on his shoulder and stroked a few strands of his hair. _“Now, let’s get you cleaned up and to bed. I saw what Malon made for you in the barn and it looks really warm and soft. No nightmares tonight, okay?”_

 _“Okay.”_ Link whispered.

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH!!! We going wild with the new world here. I hope it's okay!

Days passed and soon Link found himself falling into the rhythm of daily life on the farm. Honestly, it wasn’t much different than when he lived in the forest and it helped him when he could sleep for an hour or two before awakening to Navi whispering into his ear to wake up, that he was having a nightmare. He rose with the sun and milked and fed the cows with Malon while Talon made breakfast for them, and Ingo cleaned out the stables and put the cows and horses to roam around the ranch. Navi seemed to enjoy the new change of pace as well; she would sing to the cows and enjoyed chasing the keese around the ranch, keeping them away from the chickens that wandered freely.

After breakfast, they would all help to load the milk canisters into Talon’s wagon and he and Ingo would head to Kakariko town or Castle Town to make their deliveries, leaving Malon and Link to tend to the farm. 

It was nice. It was _peaceful_. It was like all the fighting and conflicts and horrors of the outside world were pushed away. It was like Link had been hidden from the world and placed somewhere safe.

And then it wasn’t.

* * *

Link was busy collecting eggs from the chickens, mindful of their sharp beaks and claws when he heard a noise coming from the entrance of the ranch. Link left the chickens and went to investigate, curious of what he would find. There hadn’t had any other visitors and Malon hadn’t mentioned anybody coming.

When he stepped out of the house, he was greeted with the sight of three royal Hylian guards at the entrance of the Ranch and a large black stallion wearing a Gerudo harness pawing at the ground. Its black eyes stared at Link and he felt his heart freeze at the sight of it. He knew that horse. He knew who it belonged to. Before he could say anything, Link bolted past the horse, ignoring the curious snort, and ran towards where he had last seen Malon in the paddock with the horses.

Link almost tripped over his own feet at what he saw, his mouth parting in shock. On bent knee, Ganondorf was talking with Malon who seemed delighted to be speaking to the King. He was wearing black riding leathers, no long trailing cloak, and his gold gauntlets shined in the suns bright light. Link wanted to whimper in fear. It was Ganondorf. He was… _he was still alive._ Ganondorf, the sorcerer who had sacked Hyrule Castle and caused so much pain and suffering was alive and talking with Malon? Link swallowed the lump in his throat, his senses screaming at him to be careful, and slowly approached them, his pointed ears catching their conversation.

“…And so we had a new foal born, she’s _beautiful_ , and I’ve named her Epona.” Malon said. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“A strong choice,” Ganondorf smiled. “And your education? Your reading and numbers?”

“My Dad pays the potion maker Granny in Kakariko to help me read, and her daughter helps me with my numbers. I go there once a week after we go to market.” Malon explained. She was practically beaming with the attention of the alpha before her.

“I’m very glad to hear that, and I know your mother would be pleased. Now, I have a gift for you,” Ganondorf reached inside his shirt and pulled out a leather purse. He held it to Malon. “These are for you, and only you, Malon. I will ensure more are brought next year closer to your birthday.”

“Thank you, King Ganondorf,” Malon gasped. She carefully took the leather purse and hugged it to her chest, her smile widening. “Oh! I almost forgot! Link! Come here!” She looked past Ganondorf and the Gerudo King followed her gaze.

Hot and cold flashed over Link like a summer rainstorm as he met Ganondorf’s gaze. Dimly, he could hear Malon calling for him to come. Swallowing, and starting to tremble, Link slowly approached Ganondorf, his gaze averting to the ground.

He couldn’t meet Ganondorf’s eyes.

Not after he killed him.

Not after he had seen what Ganondorf had done.

Not after what Link had done.

When he was close enough, Malon grabbed Link’s hand with her free one. “This is Link! He’s a fairy boy from the woods! He’s living here now because he’s an omega, like me.”

“A fairy boy?” Ganondorf frowned slightly, his head tilting to the side.

“Yes, Link, you tell him. I’m going to go put this where it’ll be safe. I’ll be right back!” Malon cried and ran for the cowshed.

A strange calmness washed over Link, as did the spice of magic and powerful alpha. His whole body tensed as he prepared to see the wicked sorcerer that was Ganondorf when he finally raised his gaze. What he found was Ganondorf with a kind expression on his face. The madness Link had seen in his eyes was gone and replaced with curiosity and a gentle smile.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before the smiled slipped from Ganondorf’s lips and he frowned slightly. “It’s okay, kid. I don’t bite. Are you mute?” He signed the word ‘mute’ with his hands.

Link paused, he opened his mouth to speak, but he sneezed instead. He rubbed his nose as the spice of magic almost seemed to envelop them both. Where had he smelled that scent before? The desert temple when he’d fought the two witches, Ganondorf’s mothers, and then the final battle itself...

“Don’t like my scent, kid?” Ganondorf mused.

“ _No, it’s the magic_.” Link answered in Kokiri.

Surprise filtered across Ganondorf’s face and Link froze. Ganondorf couldn’t understand Kokiri, could he? It wasn’t possible, and besides, nobody outside of the forest knew Kokiri language and—

_“My magic?”_

Uh. Oh.

Link pressed his lips together. How did Ganondorf know Kokiri? His words were heavy, like he hadn’t used the language in a long time but still… Link clenched his fist. He couldn’t say anything more. He took a step back, giving himself more space.

Ganondorf seemed to consider Link for a minute. Link swallowed, his mouth strangely dry, before Ganondorf spoke again, his words slow and careful like he was feeling out the right way to speak.

_“Do…do I know you, kid? Have we met before?”_

Link opened his mouth and he stilled at the curious gaze Ganondorf gave him. This Ganondorf was maybe a few years older than himself when Link had stepped out of the temple and into a very different future world. Maybe, maybe Link could change things? Maybe he could, could, say something, _do something_?

What would Saria do? What would the Sages do?

“Don’t do it.” Link blurted in Hylian.

“Do what?”

“The Temple of Time. The Triforce. It’ll drive you crazy and-and it’s a trap—” Link continued, his eyes wide, his mouth running as Ganondorf’s lips parted in stunned shock.

“Zelda and the Sages know. You, the Gerudo need you. Please, _go home_. To the desert. Your people will suffer without you.” Link begged.

“How did you—”

“If you do it, if you do it again,” Link choked. He squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his small hands into fists, his left-hand warming. “Please, _please_ , leave the Kokiri forest alone. The children of the woods, they don’t understand, they _won’t_ understand. We’ve already lost our Father, please, spare them.”

A soft gasp of surprise startled him and Link blinked his eyes open, startled at Malon

“Link? What happened? Are you okay? Why is your hand glowing?”Malon asked, her cheeks pink, her eyes wide and innocent. Childish. Because that’s what she was, a child. But so was he. But he wasn’t.

Link jerked back, startled. He looked at his hand, noting the glowing symbol of the triforce. He swallowed and looked away from her to Ganondorf and saw the alpha staring at the symbol as well.

“Link?”

“I-I need, I need,” Link stumbled over his words and bolted.

He raced towards the entrance of the farm, leaving Malon, and Ganondorf, and the surprised guards behind. Within moments he heard a familiar chime but he didn’t say a word as they raced across Hyrule field and towards the Zora River. When they turned the corner, Link collapsed against the ground, panting and gasping for breath, his whole body shaking.

Navi hovered in front of him. _“Link! That was Ganondorf! What have you done? What did you tell him?”_

Link shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut and wishing his heart to calm.

 _“Not him.”_ He finally rasped.

_“What do you mean?”_

Link lifted his head, his eyes wild. _“His eyes were different than when…when I killed him. The only reason he got into the temple was because I opened the doors. I broke the seal. He followed and accessed the power of the Triforce.”_

_“Link…”_

_“It’s all my fault, Navi. I did it. It’s all my fault.”_

Navi hovered beside him before she sighed softly and sat beside him.

 _“It’s…it’s a lot to see him. I saw his horse and went to find you but you were running. Let’s…let’s stay here for a little bit. Until sunset. Maybe he’ll have left then?”_ Navi asked.

Link nodded weakly and curled onto the soft grass, listening to the water rush through the river and wishing he had never left the temple.

* * *

The moon was shining overhead as Link and Navi headed back towards Lon Lon Ranch.

The familiar sound of the ground rumbling and rattle of bones of a stalchild in the distance didn’t make Link look. Instead, he just bowed his head once more as Navi turned to the sound and then back to Link.

_“Why was Ganondorf there? What did he give Malon?”_

_“I don’t know,”_ Link said. _“In the future, Ingo was planning on giving Epona to Ganondorf, but in this time he…he seemed concerned about Malon?”_

 _“We need to talk to Malon,”_ Navi flew in front of him, her light the only thing illuminating them in the growing darkness of the night. _“Let’s go to Lon Lon Ranch.”_

Slowly rising to his feet, Link silently followed Navi into the night as the stalchild mindlessly followed behind.

* * *

When they arrived, it was the dead of night and even the Gold Skulltulas weren’t out and the stahlchild that had followed them had wandered off in another direction, drawn to a lamp light flickering in the distance. Link tried to open the main door to the house and found it locked tight. He next tried the stable, but it too was locked.

 _“Come on, let’s try the cow shed!_ ” Navi cried.

Link followed, his head bowing, his feet dragging. He was exhausted and it was late. Finally, they reached the door to the cowshed and Link twisted the handle. He gave a quiet sigh of relief as he opened the door. A wave of warmth and curious _moo’s_ greeted him. He eased into the building, closing the door behind him. He patted the head of one cow who awoken in surprise to see him, the only light from a lantern overhead.

 _“Link, here,”_ Navi called. Link followed her voice, his fingers tracing familiar wooden boxes. He used the last of his energy to push them aside before crawling into the hole in the back of the room that was filled with hay and Malon.

He blinked in surprise at her worried face.

“Link?”

“Malon?”

They stared at one another. Link parted his mouth to speak when he noticed the leather bag barely hidden beneath a pile of hay. Malon followed his gaze and the worry dissolved into a sly smile.

“Want to see what it is?”

“Yeah,” Link eased back on his knees, his hands on his lap as Malon pulled out the leather bag. Link caught sight of several other leather bags safely tucked away.

Pulling open the leather string holding the bag closed, Malon tipped it open and cut rubies and diamonds spilled out onto her palm.

Link and Navi gasped at the sight.

“Every year since I was born, a Gerudo ambassador would bring me a leather purse filled with jewels,” Malon explained. She poked and rolled the precious gems in the lantern's light. Navi fluttered closer to them, examining them. “This time, The Gerudo King brought it to me.”

“Why?” Link blinked slowly.

“Because my mother was a Gerudo,” Malon shrugged. “That’s why we have horses. My Dad said that after the war, his family traded Hylian cows for Gerudo horses and my Mom was one of the best at raising and training horses. They fell in love and had me, and it’s Gerudo tradition for the children of Gerudo women to be given jewels or money on our birthday. They never forget their own, especially omegas.” Malon said.

“But why did Ganondorf come?” Navi looked up from the jewels.

Malon frowned slightly. “He was here to speak with the Hylian King and swear loyalty, so there’s no more war between the Hylians and the Gerudo. He wanted to meet me personally before he left.”

“Left? Back to Castle Town?” Link asked.

“No,” Malon shook her head. “He’s left early for the desert. Did you say something to him, Link?”

“Just…just to be careful traveling.” Link said.

Malon smiled. “Okay! Anyway, don’t tell my Dad or Ingo about where I’m keeping it.”

“Why not tell your father?” Navi flew up to Link’s shoulder.

Malon opened her mouth then shut it before she sighed. “My Dad, um…he…he doesn’t always have the best business sense and in case anything should happen, I can keep the farm. Like my Mom would have wanted me to.”

Link bowed his head slightly. He glanced at Navi who said nothing. They both knew what would happen in the future: Talon would lose the farm and Malon would suffer for it.

“We promise. We won’t tell them.” Link said.

“Thank you. Now let’s get back to the main house before Dad or Ingo thinks something is going on.” Malon said. She hid the leather purse with the others, making sure it was covered with hay before shooing Link out before her.

When they emerged from the cowshed, Malon skipped ahead of Link and Navi, singing softly as she headed for the house.

“ _Ganondorf left.”_ Link murmured.

“ _He did.”_ Navi curled her small fingers into the material of Link’s green tunic.

“ _The Temple of Time is closed._ ”

“ _It is._ ”

“ _What do we do now?”_ Link stood before the door to the barn. He glanced at the upstairs window of Malon’s bedroom and to the faint flickering light of her lantern.

Navi didn’t answer, not until Link opened the barn door and they slipped inside, mindful of waking the cows and horses and Ingo. Link crept to his space in the back and smoothed out his blankets on the soft hay before curling up on it. Only then did Navi settle beside him, sighing as he hugged her close in the palm of his hand.

“ _We live.”_

* * *

Ganondorf stormed into the Great Fairy fountain outside of the Desert Colossus. His boots were covered in sand and his thick cloak had shielded him from the sudden sandstorm that had sought to block him.

“FAIRY!” Ganondorf howled. He slammed his fist into the fountain, electricity sparking and carrying along every droplet of water, momentarily blinding him until he heard the Great Fairy’s mocking laughter from above him. He staggered back, teeth bared as he glared at her. “What have you done!?”

“Poor Gerudo King, I know not of what you speak,” The Great Fairy purred. She rolled onto her side, smirking down at him.

“The fairy boy. The one who can speak Kokiri. Who is he?” Ganondorf demanded.

The Great Fairy raised an eyebrow. “There are many fairy boys who can speak the Great Deku Tree’s language. You must be more specific.”

“The one who can _smell_ my magic.”

The Great Fairy’s eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. The temperature within the fountain drastically cooled, but Ganondorf, who could see his own breath, wasn’t deterred.

“You will not touch him.”

“He is a child. A fairy child!”

“He is a child, now, but he, unlike the other Kokiri, he will grow up.”

Ganondorf scowled. “What does that mean?”

“He is of the forest, yes, but he is not _born_ of the forest. He will grow up.”

“If I am supposed to protect him, then what is stopping me from taking him back to my kingdom? Answer me!” Ganondorf snapped.

“You will not touch him.” The Great Fairy straightened her posture until she stood above Ganondorf, the vines surrounding her body sparkling with magic. “He must heal.”

“Heal? Heal from what? How does he know my fate?”

“He has traveled through time. He has seen the future and knows the past. Consider yourself lucky, Gerudo King, that you were not lured to the Sage’s trap _this time_.” The Great Fairy hissed.

Ganondorf took a step back, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. “This time?”

“Do not go near Farore’s chosen again. Your presence will only attract those who wish to use him, and his power, as a weapon.”

“But how am I supposed to protect him?” Ganondorf spread his hands out. “How?”

“Wait. You will know when the time comes. Until then, study and govern your people. You will not have another chance.”

“But—”

“Gerudo King, be patient, and you will be rewarded with Din’s blessing, and the power to bring rain to your desert people. Be greedy, and you will be imprisoned. Be lazy, and know that Din herself will turn her back upon you.”

Before Ganondorf could say anything else, a flash of light blinded him and he was alone once more in the fairy fountain. Tugging his cloak tighter around his face, he spun on his heel and stormed out of the Fairy Fountain.

He would have a long wait indeed.

To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH!!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK!!! T_T I am blown away by how many people are enjoying this so I really appreciate your comments and feedback and just everything! I am so sorry it's been so long since I've updated; I had work, graduate school, and this damn pandemic kinda kicking the wind out of me. That said, I'm hoping to get back to writing more regularly so that's good!

The children of Kokiri were ageless. Their youth and magic tied to the Great Deku Tree that watched over them as they played and lived in the Lost Woods, oblivious to the world beyond. They farmed their land, collecting berries and fruit that dropped from the tall trees. They were children of magic and their fairy companions only added proof of that. All except one.

Link knew he was different than the other Kokiri. He grew while they remained eternal. He had no fairy, except for Navi sent to guide him on his journey. He was an outcast but for his dear friend Saria who had been kind and helped him as he grew, helping to mend his tunic and pants. She had sewn his cap for him for which Link was eternally grateful.

The Great Deku Tree died when Link exited after defeating the monster within, and with its death signalled Link’s departure to the world beyond. He couldn’t afford to stay and mourn as the other Kokiri did. Instead he fled the forest, Saria’s song dancing in his mind while he clutched her ocarina in hand.

It wasn’t until he arrived in Hyrule Castle Town that he began to understand just how different he was. He’d only glanced at the guard who watched him cross the drawbridge before he sneezed. It must have been the dust of the town, or something, but that changed as Link entered the main square and was hit with a wave of sweat and something that made his nose itch. Navi whispered into his ear, asking him if he was okay, and Link nodded, not noting the murmurs and stares that came as he headed towards the castle.

That felt like another lifetime. 

* * *

_The water temple was poorly lit. The few magical flames burning out of the waters reach danced across the moss and muck that floated along the waters edges. The heavy boots Link wore were literal weights meant to help him cross the flooded floors and rooms._

_The weight made his legs shake. His clothing clung to him uncomfortable and tight. The zora tunic had helped, to a degree, and so had the two scales he wore on a chain around his neck, but the fact remained if he was under water for too long he knew he would drown._

_Link curled on his side, shaking as the cold mildew air sucked out the warmth from his bones. He was cold, and felt like he’d been in the temple for days. Navi was examining the room, giving Link space to breathe and try and get himself together._

_He wanted out. He wanted to feel the hot sunlight on his skin. He never wanted to be underwater again._

_“At least the walls aren’t living,” Navi quietly chimed in Kokiri._

_A sour grimace crossed Link’s face and he groaned, rolling onto his hands and knees. Walking inside something alive, feeling the muscles quiver under his feet, just, ugh._

_“Please don’t remind me of that. I just want to finish this and see the sun again.” Link said._

_“Then we have to go back into the water. There’s nothing else in this room.” Navi flew back to Link, her bright light casting shadows across the room. “I think there’s another room? With those floors that rise and fall? Maybe there’s something behind the door. We haven’t gone there yet.”_

_“Okay. Let me just… just put on those boots,” Link sat up and tiredly worked on pulling the heavy boots back on. “Did you see any more of those gold skulls?”_

_“No. But I’ll keep a lookout.” Navi chimed._

_Link nodded. He slowly stood up, the shield and master sword heavy on his back. He stepped towards the water’s edge and swallowed. Hard._

_“Once more into the water,” Link sighed._

_Navi hovered by his face before slipping beneath his Zora tunic where she would be safe while Link traversed the water._

_Link swallowed, cast into total darkness, and stepped into the water. He fought the panicked urge to swim for air and instead starting walking across the stone floors, heading back to the main area of the water temple._

_He wished he’d never gone into the door._

_He didn’t need to see himself die._

* * *

“Link?”

“…”

“Hello? Link?” A hand waved in front of Link’s face and he blinked, looking up. Malon was kneeling before him, her kind face pinched with worry.

“Hmm?” Link slowly blinked. It was high summer and the heat was scorching. Link was hiding in the shadow of the shelter of the metal section of the fence. It had been so hot they’d had to bring the cows and horses back inside the barns, with the doors open and plenty of water, to try and help them stay cool.

“Where did you go?” Malon asked gently. She’d grown up, her face maturing, her hair kempt but cut short to frame her face. A lifetime of farm work had caused callouses to cover her hands and given her small frame the strength to handle whatever she faced while also giving her a quiet determination that she would get what she wanted and nothing would stand in her way.

Link slowly blinked again, his eyes darting to the space around them before refocusing on Malon once more.

“I…was thinking.”

“Of what?”

Link opened his mouth, his lips cracked and parched, before he closed them and frowned, his blond brows tugging together. “Of things. From the past.”

Malon’s eyes softened. “Link…”

Link sat up, clearing his throat. “Was there something you needed?”

Malon sighed. “Dad and Ingo still haven’t returned from their deliveries to Castle Town and I need to go to the potion shop in Kakariko for my monthly refill.”

Link stared at Malon before Malon rolled her eyes. “I need to get my heat suppressant potion.”

“Oh. Oh!” Link sat up. “Oh, okay. Do you want me to saddle up Epona? Or, do you want me to go?”

Malon’s gaze wavered. “Link, I know you don’t like going to Kakariko…”

“No, it’ll be okay. I mean, if anything happened to you I don’t think Talon would forgive me,” Link said.

“It’s just to Kakariko,” Malon started and Link shook his head.

“No, I insist. Besides, I think Navi would appreciate some downtime from chasing the guays.”

Malon watched Link’s face before a sly smile crept across her face. “You just want to go to Zora River, don’t you?”

Link smiled sheepishly. “Well…”

Malon waved her hand. “Go on then, leave little ol’me to take care of the horses and cows and chickens while you frolic with frogs and swim in the river. I’ll be waiting for your return, my hero.” Malon winked.

Link groaned. “I regret ever telling you that.”

“Hah! Saving the world and travelling through time? You _had_ to tell someone. But… on a serious note… You have no idea how lucky you are, Link. An omega not having a heat? The Goddesses must be smiling down on you.” Malon smiled.

Link smiled, glancing over Malon’s shoulder to the Navi chasing a giant guay out of the farm.

“Yeah… lucky me.”

* * *

“ _So we have to get Malon’s medicine?_ ” Navi asked. She was perched on Link’s shoulder, eating a small piece of cheese.

“ _Uh huh. I thought afterwards we could go to Zora River and take a dip.”_ Link said.

Epona snorted beneath him and he reached out, giving her neck a few soothing strokes before resettling on the saddle. She still had that wild spark in her eyes Link had always loved. It was soothing and sometimes Link swore she could remember him too from when he travelled through time, but he knew that wasn’t possible. Nobody remembered, except him and Navi.

“ _I thought you didn’t like Kakariko village?”_ Navi continued.

“ _I don’t. I know what’s…what’s in the graveyard, and I know what’s beneath the town. And…”_

 _“And who lives in the town?”_ Navi offered.

Link nodded, his eyes focused on the worn path to Kakariko. In all the years of living in Lon Lon Ranch, Link had thankfully never crossed paths with Impa. Not that she would know him, but he knew her and what her people were capable of: namely the horrors of the bottom of the well and the Shadow temple.

“ _So, we’ll be quick then! In and out. Get the potion and leave before anybody knows we’re there.”_ Navi chirped.

“ _Navi?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“Why haven’t I had a heat yet?”_

_“How do you mean?”_

Link frowned slightly. “ _You know, a heat? Like Malon four summers ago? We found her out in the cow shed in her hiding spot moaning and stinking? Why haven’t I been like that yet? She says I’m lucky…”_

They crossed the bridge over the small river that separated Kakariko with the rest of Hyrule field.

“ _I don’t know, Link. Maybe the Great Fairy put a spell on you? Maybe it’s the remaining magic of the Great Deku Tree? There are no alphas, betas, or omegas amongst the Kokiri. They just are.”_ Navi answered.

They fell silent and continued on towards the path that would lead to Kakariko Village.

* * *

The potion shop was filled with oddly familiar smells and sights. Link recognized several herbs as only growing in the Gerudo Valley, Zora Domain, and high up near the entrance to Death Mountain Crater. In a way it was soothing to see them, small memories of seeing the herbs himself popped up and he gave a small, white flower only grown near the entrance to Zora’s Domain a small smile.

“Seen it before, have you?” Granny mused.

Link turned to the counter, the smile still on his face. “I have. Long ago.”

Granny nodded. “I see. You’ve come from Lon Lon Ranch for Malon’s medicine?”

“I—yes. How did you know?” Link stepped closer to the counter, noting the purring cat sitting there.

“It’s not hard not to notice those ears and hair. Malon’s told me all about you.”

Link froze, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. “She did? She has?”

Granny shook her head, her gaze turning sympathetic. “In all confidence, I can assure you. I haven’t lived this long as a beta just by potions alone. Now, I’m just finishing up, but I need two roots from the graveyard. Could you go and get them? My granddaughter is just obsessed with breeding a pocket sized chicken so she hasn’t been much help lately.”

“What roots, exactly?” Link asked.

* * *

The Graveyard was exactly as Link remembered it: cold, damp, and full of poes. Granted, the poes seemed to be slumbering in the daylight, but Link knew they were just waiting to emerge. Even in the heat of summer, smoke lazily drifted up from Dampe’s hut and Link felt a pang at the sight.

“ _He was an okay sort. A bit strange, but maybe it was the magic he found underground that made him that way.”_ Navi whispered into Link’s ear. She was hiding, hoping not to draw too much attraction to them.

“Yeah, maybe.” Link sighed. He approached the royal composer’s tomb, almost waiting for whatever could pop-up would pop-up, but nothing happened. He walked around the back, his fingers tracing the carving with the royal symbol on it and spied what he was looking for: three small bell-shaped pink flowers.

 _Poe’s Heart_. That was what the potion woman had called them.

Link knelt and quickly, but carefully, dug them up. The roots, he discovered, were long pale worm-like things and were coated in a slightly sticky substance.

“Yuck,” Link frowned. He shoved them into a bottle and stood up. He caught a flash of light and quickly ducked behind the tomb once more, almost freezing as he peered around the edge.

“ _Link_? _What is it? Who’s there?_ ” _Navi hissed._

 _“Shhh… it’s… oh no,”_ Link whispered, his eyes growing wide at the sight of Impa standing with her back to the composers grave. He swallowed and hugged the cool stone, suddenly terrified. What would she do if she knew he was there? She didn’t even know him, did she? Was that possible? No, it couldn’t _be_ possible…. Could it?

A thousand and one thoughts raced through Link’s mind and he couldn’t help himself. He peered around the edge and watched as Impa and several other Sheikah gathered around Dampe’s hut before entering.

“ _Link?”_

_“Shhh. We wait. They’re at Dampe’s.”_

After what felt like forever, Impa finally emerged from Dampe’s hut and while Link couldn’t see, he could faintly hear her voice.

“…a full funeral. He was faithful to the Kakariko people and this graveyard. We’ll bury him and keep him as a guardian for the town. It’s what he would have wanted.” Impa said.

“But what about the poes? Who will take over?” A Sheikah guard joined her.

“Leave it with me.” Impa orded.

The Sheikah nodded and returned back inside the hut.

Impa looked around the graveyard. She crossed her arms before shaking her head and walking out and back towards the town.

Link swallowed and slowly eased his back against the cool stone of the tomb, his gaze drifting up to the entrance of the Shadow Temple. He was going to be there for hours.

* * *

Dusk was settling over Hyrule field. The brilliant blue sky transforming into a warm hue that promised of a cool night. Link walked beside Epona with her reins in his hands. After hiding behind the Composer grave for so long, he needed to stretch his legs.

 _“Dampe died,”_ Link murmured. His head was bowed, his gaze on the dirt.

 _“He did.”_ Navi fluttered next to him.

 _“Do you think he’ll go down there?”_ Link asked.

“ _You mean that catacomb place? His grave? Maybe.”_ Navi said.

“ _It’s must be lonely… I wonder why he couldn’t move on.”_

It took Link all of three minutes before he realized Epona had frozen. He glanced at her and noticed she was staring ahead of them. Link followed her gaze and understood why she had frozen.

“ _Navi.”_ Link called, and he would have laughed at her startled reaction if they weren’t standing ten feet from Impa.

Navi fluttered twice before diving back to Link and hiding behind his neck. He didn’t blame her. He would have done the same if he could.

Impa stood with her arms crossed, her lips pursed, her gaze narrowed. It was like she was examining Link, finally noting he existed. For a panicked moment, Link wondered if _she_ could remember the past, or rather the future, too. 

They stared at one another before Impa spoke.

“What were you doing in Kakariko village?”

Links mouth was dry. He pushed out the words and hoped they didn’t falter.

“I was getting medication for Malon of Lon Lon Ranch.”

“Malon?”

“Yes.”

“Do you work there?”

“Yes.”

“Where do you live?”

“Lon Lon Ranch.”

“You live and work at Lon Lon Ranch?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Since I was a kid.”

“Where did you live before Lon Lon Ranch?”

 _“Breathe, Link, you’re starting to shake,”_ Navi whispered against the nape of his neck.

“Where did you live before Lon Lon Ranch?”

“I…I lived in the forest.”

Impa tilted her head. “The forest?”

Link swallowed. His throat felt dryer than the desert outside of Gerudo Valley.

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

“Kokiri forest.”

Impa took one step forward and Link took one step back. He clutched Epona’s reins in a death grip. Impa tried to look behind Link. “And that’s where you got the fairy?”

“Yes. I found her. She was injured but I healed her and she stayed with me as thanks.” Link lied.

“Why did you leave Kokiri forest?”

“They don’t allow omegas to stay. There’s a lot of wolfos in the forest and they are very good at tracking and attacking.” Link said. It was true. He remembered them.

“And if I go to Lon Lon Ranch, they will confirm your story?”

“Yes.”

Impa nodded slowly, her gaze focused on Link, almost piercing him and leaving him flayed and laid bare strapped to a cross beneath Kakariko Village.

A shiver ran up Link’s spin at the memory and he desperately tried not to let it show.

Impa stood aside and waved her hand. “Carry on then. Best you return to the ranch before it gets dark. Omega’s shouldn’t be walking around after sunset.”

“Yes. Thank you.” Link had to force himself to step forward. His hand was almost white as he clutched Epona’s reins in hand.

Epona snorted as she walked past Impa and Linked ducked his head. He could smell Impa, that she was an alpha, and her scent carried a combination of white lilies and the copper from blood.

“Safe travels, fairy boy.” Impa whispered as he passed her.

Link bit his tongue so hard to hold back the whimper he could taste blood.

When they passed a hill, Link glanced back. Impa was still watching them and Link turned, heading straight for Lon Lon Ranch.

* * *

Link didn’t sleep. He was too scared to sleep. He hadn’t been able to stop shaking since he’d seen Impa. He swallowed great mouthfuls of cool night air before disappearing into the barn and his bed. He’d given Malon her potion and waved her off when she’d asked what was wrong. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to hide. He wanted to be safe. He wanted to _feel_ safe.

Navi, for all her guidance and support, just huddled close to him and glowed throughout the night, giving him a light in the dark.

When dawn broke, Link stumbled out of the barn only to find Malon already outside with Talon. Both of them looking like they had just been pulled out of bed and slightly panicked.

Link blinked at them, confused, and watched as they both bowed.

“Malon?” Link softly croaked.

“You must be Link,” a familiar voice spoke from the entrance of the ranch.

Ice surged through Link’s bones and into his spine, spreading through his body and making him freeze. His heart beat was racing, thundering in his ears, but all that turned to a dull rumble at the soft sounds of expensive footwear and the swish of fabric as it came closer and closer until it stopped behind him.

Slowly, Link turned to the voice.

Blue eyes met his and for a moment all Link saw was standing with the Sages before she…she…

“Princess Zelda.” Link croaked.

Long blonde hair pooled over pale shoulders. Princess Zelda wore a summer grown of light, but expensive fabric. She looked familiar, but her eyes contained something that Link had seen moments before she’d sent him back.

 _Greed_.

Princess Zelda smiled at him. For others it might have been warm, a kindness, but Link saw no kindness in her eyes.

“May we talk?”

To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on twitter @skybloodfox


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO! YES! IT'S ME! I'm so sorry for the long update. When I last posted this I was struggling with my thesis but it was approved and I'm getting a degree and HOLY SHIT FAM IT HAS BEEN STRESSFUL! Anyway, THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS!!! They are so encouraging and help keep me going and just THANK YOU!!!!

Sometimes Link wondered what happened when he was sent to the past. With Ganon wielding power, Link courage, and Zelda wisdom, what was the world like when there was only one remaining? Was the world full of wisdom and knowledge?

Sometimes Link dreamed of a flooded world with people scattered amongst islands or ships, clinging to whatever was left of life. Deep below the waters was Hyrule Castle, safe and preserved, lost in time and forever locked away. Young Link, another version of himself, was always searching for lost pieces of courage shattered and cast amongst the ocean floor while riding a red dragon boat.

Link didn’t like those dreams. He woke up with sweat dripping down his brow and back causing his shirt to cling to his skin. He didn’t tell those dreams to Navi. He kept them quiet. Even as his left fist burned with a reminder of the triforce.

Now, as Zelda stalked the interior of the Lon Lon Ranch’s farmhouse, her scent of expensive perfume and old parchment filling the room, she paused every now and then to examine whatever caught her interest, such as a photo or the small collection of wooden carvings that decorated the fireplace mantel, Link’s left hand burned.

He clutched it behind his back and prayed she didn’t notice it.

“What is this?” Zelda picked up one such wooden carving.

Link cleared his throat. “It’s, ah, it’s a carving of a sleeping Goron, Princess.”

Zelda glanced at Link, her eyes gleaming with the information. “A sleeping Goron? I’ve never seen one before. Did you make this?”

“Ah, no. I paid a Business Scurb to make it. For Malon’s birthday one year.”

“A business…scrub?” Zelda slowly frowned. “What are those?”

“They’re all over Hyrule, Princess. They look like regular Deku scrubs, but they’re taller.”

“I thought they were mindless creatures that only attack.” Zelda put the figure back on the mantel.

“They only attack when they’re scared.” Link answered. He prayed Navi was hiding somewhere. He didn’t know what she would do if she saw Zelda.

“I see…” Zelda turned to the table and stared at Link.

Link stared back.

“May I sit?” Zelda asked, her tone terse.

“Of course, right, let me…” Link pulled a chair out for her and froze when she rested her palm on his burning hand.

“Thank you, Link.” Zelda smiled, the light returning to her eyes.

Mute, Link nodded. Uncertain of what to do, he sat across from her. He clutched his hand on his lap.

“Impa informs me that you live and work here at Lon Lon Ranch.” Zelda began.

“Yes.”

“Since you were a child?”

“Yes.”

“And before that, you lived with the Kokiri?”

“Yes.” Link swallowed. His heart was pounding faster, thundering in his ears.

“And you left because you were an omega?”

“Yes.”

“Male omegas are very rare.”

Link didn’t answer.

“Impa also informs me you have a fairy companion?” Zelda smiled sweetly.

It was one reserved for diplomats and politics. It wasn’t the same smile she’d given him when he’d snuck into the castle. Except he didn’t do that this time, he did it last time. Sometimes it was hard to keep track.

“Yes.”

“Where is she?”

“Asleep. She had a busy night.” Link said.

“I see.”

_Silence._

“Do you believe in prophecies, Link?”

_Ah_.

Link flicked his gaze away, down to the wooden table, his eyes focusing on the polished surface of Malon or himself scrubbing it clean for many years. His leg was shaking now. Almost bouncing. His left hand squeezed too tight. There would be bruises all over it tomorrow. How could he milk the cows then?

“I’m assuming by your silence that you do believe. You see, when I was a girl, I had a dream—”

“I dreamed I would marry a handsome alpha and we would have many children.” Link interrupted. He refused to look up and see Zelda’s shocked face. He didn’t want to hear her dream. He knew her dream. He’d lived her dream. _He’d changed her dream_. Dread and _fear_ curled in his guts making it hard to think so Link continued, the lie growing as he spoke because he had to do it. He had to change things. 

Again.

“He would dress me in finery, he would be kind, and he was a good alpha who would keep me safe. I would never have to work again, which was strange, but we lived in wealth. And if that counts as a prophecy, Princess Zelda, then I would hope it happens sooner than later.” Link abruptly stood up, the wooden chair skidding across the floor. “Now if you excuse me, I have to get the girls milked and out to the pasture. Good day, Princess.”

“You are the hero of time!”

Link froze.

Zelda’s chair scraped against the floor as she pushed it out. Her voice was low but fierce. If she’d been an alpha, it would have had a devastating impact on Link. But she wasn’t, so it didn’t.

“You are the hero of time and you have a duty to Hyrule—”

“Why Hyrule?”

“What?”

“Why Hyrule? Your kingdom? The Gorons? The Zora? The Kokiri or the Ruto or Gerudo? Why your kingdom specifically?” Link glanced at Zelda over his shoulder. “I am not your weapon to wage war on other nations as you see fit.”

“You have the Kokiri emerald—”

“Had.”

“What do you mean?”

Link turned to face the door. Sweat dripped down his temple.

“The Great Fairies have it. You don’t have to worry about the temple being opened. It’s sealed. Now, _your highness_ , I have work to do.”

Without looking back, Link walked out of the farmhouse and headed towards the barn.

The welcoming _moo’s_ that greeted him calmed his pounding heart as he grabbed a pail and a small stool to sit on. “Hello girls, I’m so sorry I’m late this morning.” He told the first one, stroking her side before he got to work milking her, the cows utter warm in his hands.

Never did Link expect Zelda to come to the ranch, although he had run scenarios through his mind when he struggled to sleep. What he had said, it had been bothering him for a long time. He’d seen how the Gerudo struggled, he’d seen the Zora trapped in the rivers, and the Goron who only wanted to go about their lives. There had been a war before he was born and with Gan-Gan…

Link’s hand froze as his mind skipped over the Gerudo king's name. It stuttered, paused as it tried to combine the memory of him dying with when he had last seen the alpha as a child. He shook his head and refocused on the cow before him. He needed to focus or else he’d be lost in memories for the rest of the day.

He was finished four cows when Malon approached, her face stricken and pale.

“Malon?” Link frowned.

“What did you say to her, Link?” Malon whispered.

“The truth.” Link sighed. “Why?”

“Here.” Malon held out a gold-lined letter.

For a moment, Link had the most intense sense of time repeating itself. He reached out, his fingertips trembling as he took the letter from her. He looked at it, his fingers tracing across the fine letters.

“I…I need to find Navi.” Link slowly stood.

“I could read it for you?” Malon offered.

Link shook his head. “N-no. I, I need Navi. I need… Navi? Navi!” Link bolted from the barn, only to be met by Talon, Impa, and two royal guards.

“You’ve said your goodbyes?” Impa asked.

“W-what? No! What is going on?” Link’s voice wavered.

“Those are orders, Link,” Talon said, his face downcast. “You’re going to be the new gravedigger for Kakariko village.”

Link stared at Talon.

Malon rushed from the barn and hugged Link from behind, her arms wrapping around his waist as she cried into the cloth of his back. Talon stepped toward Link before pulling him into a hug.

“You’re a good boy, Link. A good worker, don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.” Talon murmured. “You come back here and eat supper with us when you can, alright? I’ll make sure Malon and I visit you.”

“Link!” Malon sobbed.

Weakly, Link hugged Talon, his gaze on Impa’s intense. He knew they had no choice. He knew what would happen if they objected. He knew of the secrets below Kakariko village. He knew Malon and Talon would be punished if he stayed. He knew he had no choice.

“Thank you for letting me grow up here.” Link whispered.

“Always, son. Always.” Talon’s voice wobbled.

“We must leave soon,” Impa ordered.

Talon let go of Link. Link slowly turned to face Malon and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’ll be back. I promise. I’ll see you again.” He whispered.

“I-I know, just be careful.”

“Epona and Navi—”

“Epona will be fine. I’ll ride her every day and I’ll tell Navi where you went when she comes back,” Malon promised. She pulled back, hot tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. She leaned closer and pecked his cheek. “Be safe, Link.”

“Malon…” Link whispered.

“Come, boy, before the sun hits high noon,” Impa ordered, her tone turning harsh.

With his world shifting, unfurling and almost threatening to crumble beneath his feet, Link let go of Malon and stepped back.

“My, my things.” Link swallowed. “I-I have a sword, and, and…”

“All here.” Impa waved her hand and one of the royal guards held up a sack. “Your sword, shield, and money, am I correct?”

“Y-yes.” Link nodded. His head was going to fall off. He was going to sink into the ground and find some sleeping business scrubs. “But I have an ocarina, too.”

Impa reached into her side satchel and removed the fairy ocarina. It was his last gift from Saria. From his old life.

Link’s stomach plummeted at the sight of Impa holding it.

“Right here. Now, follow us.” Impa turned on her heel and started walking away.

The two royal guards waited for Link to follow and with one last glance at Malon and Talon’s tear-stained faces, he followed silently. He found Ingo by the entrance of the barn, a familiar glint in his black eyes, and Link wanted to weep.

Link clutched the letter to his chest.

Where had Navi gone?

* * *

The road to Kakariko was quiet. Link stared at the ground, his mind running over everything he had said to Zelda and kicking himself over it. He should have kept quiet. He shouldn’t have said anything. He should have lied. Would it have been enough though? Maybe it was never enough. Maybe the Goddess of Time wanted him back? Maybe the Great Fairys had had enough? Maybe—

“Our gravedigger died.” Impa’s voice broke into his thoughts.

“Dampe.” Link answered.

“Yes. It seems without him, the ghosts have been acting up and roaming the graveyard at night.” Impa continued. She walked ahead of him. The two royal guards walked behind Link. He couldn’t run away if he tried. “Princess Zelda says you have experience with spirits.”

Link kept his head down.

“Boy.” Impa’s voice held a warning to it. Link swallowed.

“Th-there are people who collect poes, especially the big ones. You can eat them, but they don’t taste too good and can leave you feeling nauseas.”

“That’s disgusting,” one of the guards, another alpha, muttered behind Link.

“What do they taste like?” Impa tilted her head slightly, waiting for Link to answer.

“Like old, dirty, magic.” Link answered.

“Well, I don’t care if you eat them or kill them. Keep them contained to the graveyard and out of the village.” Impa said.

“Or the well,” Link whispered.

They entered Kakariko Village just as the sun was starting to set. Link averted his gaze from the well. It made him dizzy to see it. Where was Navi?

They marched toward the graveyard and as they entered, Link fought the full-body shiver that wanted to crawl through him at the sight of the entrance to the Shadow Temple. He knew what lay beyond it. He knew its secrets. He knew—

“Your new home.” Impa turned on her heel. They stood before Dampe’s hut. Link stared at the ground. “I’ve had new sheets brought. We’ll supply the firewood.”

“What do I do?” Link asked.

“Keep the ghosts in check, dig the graves for the dead, stay out of trouble,” Impa said. She waved the royal guards off and they saluted before leaving the graveyard. Impa stepped closer to Link.

Link stepped back.

Undeterred, Impa stepped closer and rested her hand on Link’s shoulder, squeezing.

“Obey, _hero_ , and you will be rewarded in time,” Impa whispered into his ear. She paused only to draw in a slight breath, scenting him before letting out a pleasing murmur.

“My ocarina?” Link whispered.

“I’ll hold onto it for now,” Impa murmured, “we don’t want it to break, do we?”

“No.”

Impa squeezed his shoulder once more before walking past him and leaving Link alone in the graveyard.

Link entered the hut. He shut the wooden door behind him and dropped his bag of belongings to the floor. He saw Dampe’s diary on the desk, marked on a page that would tease the reader to find his treasure. Next to it was a small stove and a bed with fresh blankets on it. Link took a step toward it intending to sit on the edge but instead he sunk to his knees. His vision started to blur as tears began to build unwelcomed. He curled forward on hands and knees, his breath catching in his throat and turning into raw, garbled, sounds. He pressed his forehead against the ground and let himself succumb to the weight of his new reality and that he would never go back to the ranch.

He cried out, clawing at the floor of the hut and wished he had never left Kokiri forest.

To Be Continued...


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding another chapter because if I don't it'll be another month of nitpicking words and rewording sentences and I want to write this and actually move on with the story instead of being stuck forever (I hope that is okay).

In all the years Link had lived, he still remembered the life that had been and the secrets the realms kept hidden. He still dreamed of Dead Hand, and the Shadow Temple, nearly drowning in the water temple, the giant spiders that inhabited the forest temple, crawling around inside Jabu-Jabu, and the burning heat of the fire temple. He remembered it all and some days when he would awaken in the night, or just before dawn, he was convinced his new life was all a dream and he was huddled somewhere on the field, trying to get a few hours of sleep before he needed to continue on his mission.

Navi told him this time was real and sometimes Link believed her.

He just didn’t feel it was real.

What _was_ real was the Gerudo ambassador who came every year to bring Malon her birthday gift of jewellery and stones. It came as a surprise to Link when the ambassador gave him a smaller leather pouch filled with green sapphires and emeralds shaped like the leaves of trees.

A gift from the Gerudo King, the ambassador would quietly murmur before leaving with her entourage and the Hylian escort.

Link didn’t know what to do with them, but the scrubs that lived in the field and on the ranch seemed overjoyed and would trade the sweet and spicy nuts and berries from the Sacred Meadow.

It helped Link. It helped him heal.

And then the Goddess of Time intervened in his life, one more time.

* * *

Navi hadn’t come back.

Link lay on the bed, staring at the wall of the little shed. It was quiet. _Silent_. The poes that had been threatening Kokariko were asleep or hidden beneath their graves. It had been a week since he’d been forced from the ranch. A week since he’d heard the cow's moo or Epona shriek as she barrelled into a flock of guays. It had been a week since he’d been safe in his little corner of the barn.

It had been a week since he’d slept.

All he could manage was an hour or two every night. Tossing and turning in his sheets, leaving his candlelit because to awaken alone in the dark was too much without Navi’s light or soothing voice to comfort him. He squeezed his eyes shut, whimpering softly. He _missed_ her. He’d lived two lives with her and now…

Now she had left.

Maybe Navi _had_ gone back to the forest to be with the others. Maybe she’d simply had enough.

He didn’t blame her. He would do it too if he could.

Link swallowed and rolled over to face the wall the bed was pressed against and tried for the hour of sleep he so desperately needed.

* * *

_“It takes great courage to travel far,” the Great Fairy soothed, “and you have travelled so very far, my heart.”_

_Link swallowed, his heart in his throat, his hands shaking slightly as he clutched the boomerang. Navi hovered next to his head. They’d emerged from Lord Jabu-Jabu not long ago, long enough to receive the Zora sapphire and Ruto’s marriage proposal. Link hadn’t been feeling well after they’d emerge and sought shelter in the cave only to discover it was home to one of the few Great Fairies in Hyrule._

_“Y-Y-Yes,” Link stuttered, because words were hard, and all he could taste was the humid stench of hot fish guts on his tongue._

_The Great Fairy tilted her head, a kind smile drifting on her lips. “Sweet One, let me bless you to make your journey just a bit easier. It will by no means be easy, but let your Goddess grant you her blessing.”_

_“His goddess?” Navi asked. “Link has a goddess?”_

_The Great Fairy nodded slightly. “Yes, she is always with you, Link. She will always be with you. She has always been with you. She knows it is hard in this world for your kind, and she will love you until the sky falls and my sisters and I return to children and join our mother.” She moved, the ivy and vines wrapped around her partially naked body shifted as she stretched out her arms, her palms up. “Let me grant you Farores Wind to aid your long journey.”_

_Link shut his eyes as light surrounded him in warmth and safety and for that brief second, he was home._

* * *

There was a poe roaming the graveyard.

Link leaned against the wooden fence, his arms crossed over his chest, watching as the poe seemed to almost be patrolling the upper row of graves. Back and forth, back and forth, holding its small lantern in front of it to guide its way. Link was roughly ninety-nine percent sure it had seen him, but was pretending it hadn’t seen Link.

Which would mean that Link hadn’t seen it.

So the poe kept patrolling.

Link was tempted to go and whack it with his shovel. Chase it off or make it slink into its grave, but it seemed determined to patrol the graves. So Link would turn a blind eye for the time being.

“You must be the new gravedigger!”

The poe froze. It slowly turned to the sound of the voice. Link didn’t turn. He watched the poe as it seemed to hesitate, uncertain of if it should attack or hide. Link picked up an empty dairy bottle and held it out. The poe floated backward before diving beneath a grave, safe.

Sighing, Link turned to the voice. He blinked at the long-haired alpha staring at where the poe had been. Link recognized him, well, another him as the owner of the potion store across from the item store near the road that led to the Goron village. From when Link went into the future. Of this time. It was hard to keep track. Link lowered the empty bottle. The owner was maybe late twenties with brown hair with a shocked look on his face.

“That was a poe.” The man pointed at the grave.

“Yes,” Link said.

“And you just threatened it with a bottle?”

“Yes.”

“Weren’t you afraid it was going to attack?”

“It’s not interested in me.” Link explained.

“ _Wow._ Gran said you were amazing, but I had no idea.” The alpha smiled.

Link frowned slightly. “Gran?”

“Yes, she makes all the potions. Anyway, I have a delivery of firewood for you.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Link pushed away from the wooden fence and walked toward the entrance where the alpha stood, almost nervous of stepping in too far. There was a small wagon behind him with enough firewood for a week.

“I’m Luis,” he said. “If you ever need anything, just let me know.”

“Okay.” Link looked at the pile of firewood. He recognized some of the bark as coming from trees on the outside of Kariko forest.

“Or, you know, if you ever want to have a drink and some dinner,” Luis winked.

Link blinked, his eyes flicking up to the alpha, then to the firewood once more.

“Right.”

Luis grinned at that. “Anyway, I’ll leave the wagon. You can bring it back when you’re next in town. Have a good day, Link.”

Link didn’t answer. He watched as Luis walked away, whistling as he returned to Kakariko village.

The feeling of eyes on him made Link glance over his shoulder. The Poe had emerged and was peaking over a gravestone, watching Link. Wordlessly, Link raised the bottle again, and the Poe dove back down into the grave.

Sighing, Link put the bottle down and started unpacking the firewood. He was going to need more bottles. 

* * *

Four and a half weeks.

It had been four and a half weeks.

Four weeks and someone had finally died.

Link pressed his weight onto the foot ridge of the shovel, grunting slightly as it dug deeper into the brown soil before tossing it up onto the pile next to the grave. Impa had given him directions of where, and how deep, to dig. So here he was in the middle of the day under the scorching heat, covered in dirt and soil, and digging a grave for one of the residents of the village.

Link didn’t know who, but they seemed important, so he kept digging down.

He hadn’t strayed from the graveyard much. Mainly skirting the edge of the town at dawn and dusk to avoid the people and the Well. Sometimes if he walked too close to the center, he could hear the ReDead’s beneath the ground moaning plaintively for something. So he stayed away, kept his head down, and waited. Except for Luis from the potion shop. The alpha seemed intrigued by Link and he, well… Link didn’t have any bad memories of him.

One of the poe’s who liked to creep around during the day slowly edged closer to the open grave, watching Link. Without batting an eye, and pretending he couldn’t see it, Link tossed a shovelful of dirt on top of the poe only to hear it shriek in annoyance and stay a respectable distance away. And Link kept digging.

Only when he was over his head did he stop. Panting and covered in sweat, Link tossed the shovel out of the grave and stretched, his muscles aching, and dragged himself out. He rolled onto his back, letting the sun beat down on his skin and trying to calm his racing heart.

He stunk.

His muscles ached.

 _He was so tired_.

When a shadow covered him, his heart skipped a beat. Link opened his eyes and squinted at the face above him.

Luis was there, smiling down at him with a bottle of cold milk in hand.

“Here, I thought you could use this.”

Link blinked slowly. He moved, biting back the groans that wanted to escape his chapped lips. He took the bottle and removed the cap, gulping down the cool, refreshing dairy treat. He could taste something faintly sweet in it, but Link wasn’t sure what it was.

“Do you like it?” Luis sat next to Link on the grass beside the grave. His vest and brown pants clean. “I added some fruit juice to it. Apparently the Gerudo do something similar but nobody knows exactly how they make it.”

“It’s good,” Link said. He took another gulp of it, finishing off the bottle with a contented sigh of relief. It was just what he needed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Luis grinned. “You know, I have a few other types of sweet milk, if you’d be interested in them. I’d love another opinion on them.”

Link paused. What should he say? What would Navi say? She’d tell him to be more open, to be more trusting, that it wouldn’t also just be Malon in his life. And besides this was sweet milk and Link loved sweet milk. But she wasn’t there. She hadn’t come back from the ranch. She’d left Link. His heart ached at the thought so he pushed it down with all of his other regrets and pain that kept him awake staring at the night sky with the poes roaming the graveyard and no ocarina to play and remind him of Saria.

“Okay. Sure.” Link said. He wiped his forehead with his arm, just enjoying the moment of being out of the dirt. “I’m a bit dirty at the moment though…”

Luis laughed. “No worries about that. Look, the funeral is probably going to last until dawn, they usually do, and I don’t like funerals, so why not come by my store and we’ll try out a few other types?” 

Link let a slow and nervous smile. He could do this. He would. Navi would be so proud of him.

If he knew where Navi was.

Link swallowed again. “S-sure. Okay. Tonight?”

“Tonight.” Luis winked. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his pants. He spared a look at Link’s hut. “Uh, you might want to hide those bottles before Impa sees them. She’s not much of a poe person.”

Link glanced at his hut. By the front door were three bottles filled with pouting poes and another poe pointing and laughing at them.

“Yeah… I’ll deal with them.”

With a wave, Luis left Link alone in the graveyard and the poe that had been hiding nearby floated over to join Link.

“Did you hear what he said?”

The poe looked at Link. Link stared at the bottles. “Tell the others they can’t come out tonight until the funeral is over. Do you understand?”

The poe made a soft garbling sound and slipped into the ground.

Link stood up and headed toward the bottles and the laughing poe by his door. He knelt next to them and looked at one jar. “I’m going to bring you guys inside for tonight. We’ll see how you are tomorrow.”

The laughing poe made a soft cooing sound at Link and hovered behind him as he grabbed the bottles and brought them into the hut. Safe and secure, Link looked at the poe and pointed at it.

“Stay in your grave tonight. It’s not safe.”

The poe nodded and fled the small hut. Link grabbed the small towel he kept for washing himself and stepped outside. He closed the hut door, twisting the lock, before heading towards the entrance of the graveyard and town.

* * *

Kakariko Village was decorated in black. It was mourning the death of a village, an astrologer who had served the royal Hylian household. People were preparing tables in the middle of the village with barrels of wine being brought to the front. They would mourn and say their goodbyes and then drink and feast. It was a strange procession that Link hadn’t really seen or experienced before.

The children of the woods they just… became lost into the woods and became one with it.

He wrinkled his nose. What was wrong with that? Become part of the forest? Music and warmth and light.

No wonder Navi went back.

Link’s sunburned shoulders slumped as he scrubbed himself in the cool water of Zora River. He was tucked away out of sight, except for maybe a few frogs who croaked next to him as he washed the dirt from his hair. He was being brisk with himself, using a handful of wild lavender to scrub against his skin and leave him smelling far better then what he smelled like earlier. A part of Link wondered if maybe he’d chased Navi off. Maybe that was why she had left him. She’d had enough. But she would tell him otherwise, wouldn’t she? Navi always spoke her mind.

Where had she gone?

Link ducked beneath the water and emerged. He rubbed his face, grateful to finally get all of the sweat off his skin. He glanced at the sun. It was just starting to descend down towards dusk and Link wanted to be at Luis’ store before then. The alpha was a strange one; he’d seemed to like Link. Like Malon, but different. Link couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was there.

Ducking underneath once more, Link combed his fingers through his hair and emerged, wading through the water to grab his clothing and towel.

* * *

“You came!”

Link stood at the entrance of the potion store, his hair tucked into his favourite green cap. He didn’t have much clothing, but the pants and brown tunic he wore digging graves were dripping behind his hut and all he had was the green tunic that Malon had made for him last summer as a gift.

“…yes.” Link said.

Luis’s smile was wide, his hair neatly combed back, his clothing tidy. He stepped to the side and gestured Link to enter. “Come in. I was just setting up.”

Link nodded and entered, suddenly unsure. Luis closed the door behind him and approached the counter, talking away but Link wasn’t paying much attention. He was focused on that uncertainty and trying to figure out _why_ he was feeling it and when _did_ he last feel it?

It wasn’t the memories of the shadow temple, nor was it water. It was almost like when he saw twinrova’s combined form and the large alpha had winked at Link. He’d never been winked at before and it made him blush.

Was he blushing now?

Link pressed a hand to his cheek. It was cool, maybe slightly flushed from the heat, but it didn’t _feel_ warm.

“Link?”

Luis waved his hand in front of Link’s face and Link stepped back, his back hitting the door as he focused on Luis. His heart skipped a beat and he went to reach for his sword only to remember it wasn’t there.

“What?”

“Are you feeling okay? The sun must have taken it out of you,” Luis said. He offered Link a glass filled with milk that smelled faintly like roses. “Here, try some of this. It’ll refresh you.”

“O-okay. Thank you,” Link took the glass, frowning as his hand shook slightly. He brought the glass to his lips and drank deeply. It _was_ refreshing. His eyes fluttered shut as the cool liquid went down his throat and chest, spreading outward until it hit his stomach. When he finished the glass, his lips turned downward.

Luis laughed.

“That good, huh? Let me have that and I’ll pour you another one.” Luis winked. True to his word, he took Link’s glass and refilled it, this time the milk smelled of something rich like Deku seeds roasted. “Let me know if you like it.”

Link smiled, the first hint of a real smile, and took the newly refilled glass. He sipped it. It wasn’t as refreshing so much as it was…playful. It was warm and soothing. He said as much.

“Really?” Luis tilted his head. “Huh, let’s try a few more. I’ve got some meat and cheese too,”

“I don’t eat meat,” Link said.

Luis paused. “You don’t?”

Link shook his head. “Just eggs. No meat.”

“What do you eat?” Luis frowned.

“Plants, nuts, berries, bread, eggs, milk,” Link shrugged.

Luis made a soft _humming_ sound that made Link give an uncertain smile. “Okay, well, let’s try some more milk.”

Relieved at the change of topic, Link followed Luis to the bar and spied a bottle with small blue flowers floating at the top.

“What’s that?” Link peered at the bottle.

“That? Oh, that’s a luxury bottle. In it is a special flower only grown in the Hebra Mountains.” Luis picked up the bottle.

“Hebra…mounatins…? Where is that?” Link watched as Luis slowly uncorked the bottle of milk.

“It’s far to the northwest. Completely covered in ice and snow. Did you want to try some?” Luis said.

“Are you sure?” Link smiled at Luis. “Really?”

“Yeah, just for you,” Luis winked and this time Link did feel his cheeks warm. Luis poured Link’s glass full and set the bottle back down. “I usually sell it off to a buyer in Clock Town. There’s a milk bar that sells luxury types of milk.”

“Cloud Town?” Link brought the glass to his nose and sniffed. There was an almost cool smell to the milk, like it had been left out in the snow.

“Yeah, it’s in Termina. It’s not far from here.” Luis's voice quieted.

Link took the glass to his lips and started drinking. He almost gagged as it hit his tongue. What had smelled cool and icy was almost as thick as honey. It was disgustingly sweet and he tried to move the cup but Luis’s hand was holding it against his mouth while his other hand held the back of Link’s head, forcing him to drink.

“Come on, Link, drink it all down,” Luis whispered into a pointy ear.

Link gulped down the remaining liquid and shoved Luis away. Luis crashed back against the wall and Link made his break.

Well, he tried to anyway.

Link took two steps towards the door when his legs gave out from underneath him. He gasped, the world spinning as the sweet syrup hit his gut and he felt like he was trapped in a room with Volvagia; his heart was racing and his body was burning. He tried to crawl forward but couldn’t. Luis grabbed him by the back of his green cap and jerked him back on to his knees. A high pitched whine escaped Link’s lips as he stared up at Luis and his vicious glare.

“You know, Ingo said you would be worth a lot. I guess we’ll have to see. But don’t worry pretty,” Luis stroked Link’s cheek with his free hand, “I won’t let those brutes touch you.”

Link blinked, tears starting to cloud his vision as the door to the shop opened and several men baring a slight resemblance to Ingo entered. They wore hoods and carried a metal wrist and ankle shackles.

“This the omega Ingo spoke about?” One of the men, a beta, asked.

“Yes. You’ll have to leave soon while Impa and the others are distracted. I’ll help you out of the village.” Luis explained.

Link whined. He reached for Luis only to fall onto the floor, panting as his skin started to burn.

“Stupid omega,” the other Ingo cloned muttered before he kicked Link in the face and the world went dark.

* * *

_The moon was falling._

_Link stared up at the sneering face as the ground began to rumble and drowned out the desperate screams of people, Goron’s, Deku’s, Zora’s, and animals. A skull kid wearing a strange mask laughed manically._

_A black fairy flew around Link panicking and scared. What were they supposed to do? How could they stop it? They couldn’t stop the moon! It was all going to end._

_Link picked up the Ocarina._

_He brought it to his lips and played the song of time, silently praying that the goddess heard his plea, that she was still there to listen to him._

_And she did._

_And time went backward._

_Again._

_And again._

_And again._

_As many times as he needed to help others. To make things right. He had a book to keep track of people during the endless three days. What they needed to survive. To have a normal life and live once more._

_The Goddess of Time blessed Link._

_He was her Hero._

_And she, like Farore, would always be with him._

_Had always been with him._

_Until he woke up._

_And he was alone._

* * *

Link wanted his ocarina.

The only light in the room was the glimpses of the setting sun that struggled to shine through the thick window curtains. It was stuffy and hot. The air smelled faintly of rain, but the scent of slick and heat drowned everything else out, including the small flower on the table next to the bed.

Link knew there was a flower on the table because the last time the door had opened and light had flooded the small room, he’d seen the purple tulip in its cheap vase. That was roughly all Link had seen before the door had slammed shut and he was left in the dark once more. He had tried to crawl off the bed, he had tried to flee but he was bound by tight rope to the footboard and headboard of the bed.

Link was trapped, stinking of heat, and going mad. He didn’t know where he was or what was wrong with him. All Link knew was that he had been forced to drink the special milk Luis had and he awoke tied to a bed in a place he didn’t recognize, except he did, but he didn’t. It was confusing.

It was a wonder he could still think, when he thought about it.

He wanted his ocarina.

He hated how he smelled.

He hated how his skin burned and his thighs were slick with _something_. It made him tremble like he was scared and he hated being scared.

He wished he could summon the goddess of time and go back like in his dream. Make everything right. _Save himself_.

He wished Navi was there.

The door to the room opened and Link rolled his head to the side, panting as his chest ached, _his body_ ached. Luis stood before the bed, a mask covering his face.

“Come on, Link. We’re going someplace special.” Luis said, his voice was mumbled behind a cow-shaped mask.

Link whimpered and shut his eyes.

* * *

_“Hey, get a photo of the Gerudo women and you can have this sea horse.” The tattooed man said._

_“Please, please help me. Please help me go home.” The seahorse begged Link._

_Link nodded and left the small hut. He reached for the Zora mask, his fingers sliding against the smooth scales, and brought it to his face as he approached the water's edge._

* * *

“Ladies and gentlemen, alphas and betas, Zora and Goron and Deku, I have a treat for you tonight,” an announcer stood on the stage. He was illuminated by the lights above.

Link lifted his head, his eyes burning, his ears ringing with the sound of the Zora band playing low in the background. He was on his knees, his arms bound behind his back. A rope was tied around his mouth, gagging him. Drool dripped down his chin and splattered the stage before him.

All he could smell was lust and alphas. He was almost surprised he could identify the stink of lust but the way Luis had panted into his ear on the journey there in the back of the carriage, it didn’t surprise him too much.

Fat fingers dug into his hair and yanked his head back. Link whimpered, his back arching with the movement. He squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to see the people before him.

_Where was his green cap?_

“An omega raised by the fairies of Kokiri forest near the capital. He’s quite lovely, isn’t he? Perfect for a pet or working the fields if you feel like showing off. And we’ve been informed he’s a virgin too. ”

There was a murmur amongst the crowd.

Where was the Goddess of Time when he needed her? Where was Farore? His left hand burned with the triforce of courage. _Where was the great fairy who had sent him to Lon Lon Ranch? Did she know this would happen?_

“We’ll begin with fifty-thousand rupees.” The announcer said.

Shouting filled the air and the price started to climb. If Link didn’t feel so sick he would have been astonished. The only time he’d seen that sort of money had been with the cursed family in the spider house—wait, he cured them, didn’t he? He’d lifted the curse. He had. They’d celebrated and cheered and given him money whenever he asked. Had he seen them this time? Had he gone into the house in Kakariko village _this_ time? Shame swept through him making him whimper behind the gag, which raised the bids higher, but Link didn’t think of them. He thought of the trapped family who had been blinded by greed and riches and had been cursed as a result.

Was this his fault then? Had Link cursed himself? 

“Two-hundred and fifty thousand rupees!” The announcer bellowed.

The hand in Link’s hair tightened.

This was Link’s fault. He’d been greedy. He’d wanted to rest, he wanted to heal. He didn’t want to fight anymore. Navi had left him. The goddesses had turned their backs on him as he had turned on them because he hadn’t followed Zelda’s order and continued the chain.

 _It was all his fault_.

“Five-hundred and eighty thousand rupees, which I know is a record for this bar,” the auctioneer began only to stop short and the room fell silent.

Link slowly opened his eyes, tears rolled down his hot cheeks with the action and he turned his blurry eyes to the focus of the room and to what, or rather who, had caused the auctioneer to fall quiet. 

Ganondorf stood before the stage wearing a black cloak. He was flanked by two Gerudo warriors dressed in traveling clothes. Ganondorf gestured his fingers to the stage and one of the Gerudo women tossed two large brown bags onto the stage before Link. One of the bags split and cut and polished diamonds spilled out across the stage.

The auctioneer and crowd gasped at the sight.

“Sold!” The auctioneer crowed. He let go of Link’s hair and Link slumped onto the stage.

Link watched, his heart starting to pound, his eyes misting as Ganondorf stepped onto the stage. The huge alpha was older, his hair longer. He knelt next to Link and brushed his hand across Link’s forehead before pulling back and making a tsking sound.

“ _Can you hear me, kid?”_ Ganondorf asked in Deku. It was rough, but like he had been practicing those very words for a while.

Link wanted to cry. Instead, he nodded slightly. He was going to die. He would die later, sooner, past, present, future. He would die. The world would split. It would be flooded with the tears of the goddesses for the treatment of their chosen.

Ganondorf removed the gag from Link’s mouth and with a small blade drawn from his boot, cut the rope holding Link’s arms together. He effortlessly scooped Link up into his arms, cradling him against his chest. He gave orders to the Gerudo women and they headed for the door of the auction house.

Link leaned against the alpha's chest, his face disappearing into the strong neck. He could help himself. He sniffed the alpha.

He smelled of magic and sand and _power_.

He smelled of something Link thought had only dreamed of and it made Link’s head spin so bad he felt the world collapsing in on him.

Ganondorf smelled of _home_.

“ _Don’t worry. Safe now.”_ Ganondorf said again in Deku.

This time Link did cry and clung to the cloak the alpha wore.

“ _Home._ ” Link weakly whispered.

“ _Home?”_ Ganondorf replied, struggling with the word.

“ _Home. Take me home.”_ Link whispered just before he passed out.

He did not dream.

To Be Continued…


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY I HAVE NOT BEEN UPDATING T_T With everything going on in the world, I just sorta...crashed and I'm very sorry that it's led to no updates and just hiding. I read all of your comments and reviews and it is so amazing and wonderful that you all are reading and liking it and I'm just often stunned and I don't know what to say but THANK YOU!!!! Thank you so much!!! Thank you!

The rustle of fine fabric and slipper-clothed feet on the marble floor filled the hallway of the castle. The soft rustle hid Zelda’s growing fury. Impa, ever faithful, _eternally faithful_ , followed two steps behind the Princess.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“How is that possible?” Zelda snapped. “How can _you_ lose Link? He lives in the graveyard! You have people on him of every second of every minute of his day! How is it possible!?”

“I don’t know, Princess. Perhaps he used magic to teleport?” Impa suggested.

Zelda abruptly spun on her heel, the fine silk of her gown swirling around her legs and feet. She glared at the alpha. “He wouldn’t do that. Not without _her._ ”

“Of course, Princess Zelda.” Impa bowed.

Zelda huffed and turned around, resuming her pace down the marble hallway and towards her private wing of the castle. Two guards standing by the large oak doors opened them for her and closed them as she and Impa entered the room. It was a private library with walls of books. Zelda approached the far wall and reached for a blue book, tugging twice on the spine until the bookcase popped open. Zelda entered and was followed by Impa.

They walked through a small, cramp, dark corridor until they reached another door and a smaller room, maybe big enough to hold two people and a circular table in the middle. There was a tiny window that looked out onto a garden and tree, but the room was bare, except for the small glass-like box positioned atop the table. It was covered with a thick blanket with the Hylian royal crest on it.

Zelda snapped her fingers. Impa lifted the blanket to reveal the dim blue light of Navi’s small form.

“Fairy, will you speak today?” Zelda asked politely, but her words were clipped and tense.

Navi refused to answer.

Impa tapped the glass. “Fairy. Speak.”

“ _You’re not the Zelda I remember,”_ Navi whispered in Kokiri.

“She’s speaking that language again,” Zelda whispered.

“Yes, Princess, we’ve captured one of those… Skull Kids. And he’s been very informative of their language.” Impa whispered back.

Navi could hear them whisper and her wings sagged at that news. The poor Skull Kid. They just wanted to play music in the forest and be with their friends. Like Link.

_Poor Link…_

Navi’s light dimmed even more as she thought of how many endless nights of crying and nightmares he must have suffered without her there to comfort him.

“Where did he go?” Zelda asked Navi.

Navi’s wings slightly fluttered. She turned to Zelda.

“What?”

“The Princess wants to know where Link went,” Impa explained, her face unreadable.

“What do you mean?” Navi asked. “Isn’t he at Lon Lon Ranch?”

“No. We moved him to Kakariko as the gravedigger, but now it seems he’s gone. So, fairy, where did he go?”

Navi’s light shimmered and started to grow brighter. She fluttered upward in her glass case.

“He left? He got away? That will teach you to think you could control him! He has friends everywhere; the Zora, the Gorons, the Kokiri and on. You think he’s weak? He’s the strongest person I know! He’s _brave_ and that’s why the Goddess chose him!” Navi cried. “He’s free! _He’s free!”_

Zelda stormed away and back down the hallway. Impa only turned when she heard the Princess’s frustrated shrieks fill the air. Impa picked up the heavy cloth and draped it over Navi’s glass case, ignoring Navi’s singing voice as it was dampened and the room went black.

“ _He’s free! He’s free! Run and be happy, Link!”_ Navi cried in Kokiri.

* * *

“Easy, easy,” Ganon huffed, lifting the bottle to the Link’s mouth, his other going to the back and holding his head steady as he drank. He curled his fingers in the blond, sweat-soaked strands, watching as the small Adams apple in Link’s throat bobbed as Link drank until the bottle was empty. Ganon pulled it away and the Link gasped for breath, blinking rapidly at the light in the room and looking to Ganon before he bent at the waist and threw up the potion all over Ganon’s boots.

“Damn it,” Ganon cursed, stepping back and eyeing his footwear. He let go of the Link’s hair and watched as the omega curled onto his side on the heavy bed and clutched his waist, whimpering.

“Sire, should we move him? There’s an ocean colony fort of ours not far from here. We could stay amongst our own for a little bit while he recovers.” The female gerudo stood by the doorway of the small beach house, the smell of fresh ocean air flowed in providing a soothing and frankly welcoming relief to the smell of omega slick and sick.

“No. We’ll keep him here. It should be a few more days before his heat starts to wear thin. Then we’ll return to Gerudo Valley. There we’ll travel to the town and finally beyond the sand to home.” Ganon instructed. “Tell Amma to greet the ones in the ocean fortress and see if you can find some more _milk_. It’s the only thing he’s been able to keep down.”

“Of course, Sire.” The Gerudo guard bowed again and slipped out of the doorway, allowing the thick carpet like material to slide back down and cover it.

Ganondorf sighed at the mess. He grabbed a nearby bucket and cleaned the floor, glancing every now and then at Link’s whimpering and shivering form.

When he received the report from the Business Scrubs that Link had been moved to Kakariko Village, he paid them handsomely for their information. After all, they were all over Hyrule and various kingdoms, working and busy building new homes for their kind. But when he learned that Link had been taken to Kakariko village to work as the grave keeper, Ganon knew something was amiss and the boy with the glowing Triforce on his hand, who had saved Ganondorf from an unkind fate, would need saving.

He just didn’t expect to find Link, now fully grown, being sold at an auction in a foreign land and heat sick. He’d felt a pang of pity for the fevered omega but knew things would be _far_ worse if the others had bought him. He wondered if the royal Hylian’s knew where Link was, or if he had been smuggled out.

He wondered if the Great Fairy he had spoken to years ago had known this would happen.

Ganondorf sighed again, the floor now clean. He stood and rinsed his hands in another bowl of freshwater before drying them with a nearby cloth. He approached Link and sat on the edge of the bed, his jaw ticking at the smell of omega heat.

“Poor kid, you never had a chance.” He mused.

Link stirred on his side. He rolled his upper body to the side, his tear-stained eyes meeting Ganondorf

“I _killed_ you, you, the castle, _underwater_ , the child of _dusk and dawn_ ,” Link whined in a mix of half Hyrulian and half Kokiri. “ _Why do we always come back?”_

“Link?” Ganon resisted the urge to push back the sweat-damp bangs and comfort Link. “I don’t always understand what you’re saying, but _you’re safe. Safe here._ ”

“ _Never safe.”_ Link answered back before a loud moan tumbled past his parched lips. He arched his back, groaning and rolling to lay face down on the bed, his body shaking as he squirmed and shifted. “ _Never. Safe._ ”

Ganondorf frowned. He wanted to ask more, but the smell of slick was starting to become overwhelming and frankly _tempting_. He stood up from the bed and pushed open the rug door, allowing the salt air to assault his senses. He drew in a deep breath, enjoying how it surged through him and reveled in the way the wind carried the mist.

It was a paradise there along the beach near the town of Termina. It was an oasis of calm and coolness, and Ganondorf wished he could bring it back him with him to the desert.

A feverish moaned drew his attention back to the hut and Ganondorf turned, resuming to tending to the one the Great Fairies of Hyrule had deemed important enough to protect and the one Farore had chosen.

It would be a very long week indeed.

* * *

_Link was lost._

_Granted, he had spent most of his life lost. Lost in quests, lost in memories and dreams, but where he was now, he was lost in a land of monsters and unable to defend himself. He had no weapon, no shield. Link knelt next to a puddle, staring at his reflection as he touched the long rabbit's ear on his head. He was no longer human._

_He had to do something._

_He had to find his way back._

_He needed to find his mirror. That was it. He needed it. Then he could travel back and forth and…and…_

_Defeat Ganondorf once more._

_The world shifted once more and Link found himself bathed in twilight in the Hyrule throne room. He was shaking, lips swollen, his costume torn and legs spread as he lay on the cool marble of the floor. Lips and slightly too sharp teeth marked his neck and suckled his throat. His stomach clenched as large hands slid under his tunic and chainmail and pawed at his sweaty skin. He could only cling to the form above him that was busy devouring him._

_Lips found his cheek and Link turned his head, whining as he opened his mouth, offering himself as gold eyes met his._

_“More rabbit then wolf, aren’t you, hero?” Ganondorf hissed against his lips._

_Link clawed at the heavy armour and pressed his lips against Ganondorf, his insides squirming as Ganondorf laughed above him._

* * *

The cool salty breeze of the ocean stirred Link awake. He sucked in a breath, the air refreshing and soothing to his lungs. His heart ached though as memories of playing musical instruments to awaken Lord Jabu-Jabu flittered through his mind.

He rolled on to his side, frowning as his eyes opened, the light almost blinding as he fumbled among the thin sheet that covered him.

It hadn’t been Lord Jabu-Jabu. It had been another. It lived in the sky. It was trapped in dreams.

Maybe this whole life was a dream.

Link crawled to the edge of the soft bed, his limbs weak, his body fevered, his thighs slick and cock hard against his belly. He wanted to consider that; but he hadn’t. Hadn’t he felt that way before? Link’s frown deepened as he slipped off of the bed, crawling on shaking hands and feet, grateful for the cool tile floors against his bare skin.

 _Like twilight_.

What was wrong with him? Why did he feel like this? Maybe Navi would know. Navi knew everything. She was so smart and wise.

He missed her so much.

He was four feet from the doorway. The seagulls’ cries and rolling ocean tide were a siren song to him. He was so thirsty. He _ached_.

Two feet.

Link could almost feel the sand on his fingertips. He would let the heat of the sunshine on him and cure him. Let it bake his bones.

 _Power_ swept into the room. Wild magic, magic like the kind Link had grown up with in Kokiri forest, poured over him like a wave and he shivered. He shut his eyes, the fine hairs on his arms and legs rising as it engulfed him and tickled along his spine.

Heavy boots stepped onto the tiles and the sun was blocked, casting Link into shadow.

“You’re awake.”

Link opened his eyes. He tilted his head up, his eyes trailing up the thick boots, the leather riding pants that clung to muscular thighs and up the black shirt that was unbuttoned at the top, up an exposed neck to a strong jaw and unreadable eyes. Ganondorf. It was Ganondorf blocking the light and the exit.

Ganondorf slowly knelt in front of Link, never breaking eye contact, not until his knees hit the ground.

Link slowly blinked.

“I killed you.” He whispered, instantly appalled at how cracked his voice was. How much it hurt to speak.

“I know, Kid.”

"I'm not a kid!" Link snapped.

"No, no, you're not," Ganondorf sighed, "but you have been sleeping a lot."

Link swallowed. His throat ached. He tried to sit up. The world around him wobbled as he struggled to his knees. He felt big hands curl around his arms, completely encasing him. Link whimpered. He reached out and curled his fingers into the surprising softness of the black shirt. He looked to Ganondorf, his blond hair loose on his shoulders as he shook his head.

“You don’t understand. _I killed you_. Again and again and again,” Link’s voice cracked. His grip tightened. He leaned closer, his words bordering on desperation. “I-I can’t, not again, I can’t.”

One of the hands on his arm let go and it moved, sweeping away the hair from Link’s forehead. Ganondorf’s eyes flickered across Link’s face. “You’re burning up.”

Link whimpered, his gut clenching at the touch and soft words. “Punished. I’m being punished.”

Surprise entered Ganondorf’s eyes before pity chased it away. “You have no idea what’s happening to you, do you?”

“I’m dying. I’m poisoned. The water of the great swamp. Don’t drink it.” Link whispered.

“You’re in heat.”

Link stared at Ganondorf. He blinked. His belly ached. His thighs were too slick. His whole body hurt. He hurt. _He wanted_.

“…Is that a spell?”

Ganondorf wet his lips, his tongue swiping across his bottom lip. Link stared, distracted while the hand on his forehead moved to cup his chin.

“Can I touch you?”

“Will it hurt?” Link whispered, his frown returning.

Ganondorf shook his head ever so slightly, letting the small gold ornaments braided into his hair catch the light.

Link’s lips parted, distracted at the sight. They were small symbols from the Spirit temple. He remembered them. He’d seen them somewhere before, too. He shifted slightly on his knees, his eyes glazing over as he tried to remember where and _when._ The hand that had cupped his chin slid down his neck, goosebumps followed the calloused fingers, his body trembling as they slid down his naked chest and down to his flat belly. He wanted to look, to watch the hand but he couldn’t. Not when he saw the small gold heart and leaf charm woven into the braid. He wanted to touch that. It was so _pretty_. He wanted one for himself. Maybe he could get one?

“Look at me,” Ganondorf’s voice was soft, but commanding.

Link blinked, startled at the intensity in Ganondorf’s eyes. He opened his mouth to say something. Was there something important? Instead, his mouth fell open, his eyes widening as the large, calloused, hand curled around his erection and stroked.

A high-pitched cry escaped his lips. He wanted to crawl away from the hand, to push it away, but he couldn’t, especially when Ganondorf’s thumb smeared along the sensitive head and Link bucked his hips.

Ganondorf did it again and Link moaned. The sound shaking him and scaring him. The hand that had been gripping his arm shifted and curled into the back of Link’s head. He let Ganondorf draw him closer. Shaking, Link tucked his head against Ganondorf’s shoulder, inhaling the scent of magic, hot cinnamon, spices Link couldn’t name, and _power_.

A twist of a hand and Link’s hips rose to meet it. He panted against the soft fabric of the shirt, whining as he bucked awkwardly into Ganondorf’s hand. He was rutting, his hips moving faster, that ache in his belly growing tighter and tighter. He squeezed his eyes shut, groaning as the ache snapped and he came, shaking with his release, the muscles in his thighs quaking as he clenched on nothing and didn’t understand _why_ that made him whine so mournfully. But, the heat lessened, and Link could think for the first time in a very long time.

It scared him.

A broad hand stroked his hair while lips found one of his pointed ears.

“You still with me?”

Link nodded, almost numb and shocked at how his muscles started to relax.

“Have you ever been like this before?”

Link shook his head. 

There was a hesitation, a pause on Ganondorf’s part, before he continued speaking. “You’re an omega, Link. Omega’s go into heats like this every few months. Some drink a potion to stop it from happening. You’re not poisoned or dying.”

“Oh…” Link swallowed.

“You probably won’t remember this conversation when you come out,” Ganondorf sighed.

“I remember,” Link whispered. His fingers touched a gold button on Ganondorf’s shirt. It was engraved with the Gerudo symbol.

“You remember?”

“In the throne room. In _Twilight_.” Link squeezed his eyes shut as the heat began again, warming his belly, making it hard to think. He squirmed on his knees. “You. But older. You said I was more rabbit then wolf.” Link raised his head, his eyes sorrowful as he met Ganondorf’s. “It’s not funny. I was a rabbit. Once. Always. This is a dream.”

Ganondorf reached for something right by his feet. Link looked to it. It was a bottle of milk. He whined at the sight. Ganondorf removed the cork and pressed the bottle to Link’s chest. It chilled his skin and made him shiver.

“Drink. You’ll feel better.”

“I want my ocarina,” Link whined. He took the bottle with weak fingers and brought it to his lips and drank deeply.

And then there was nothing.

To be continued


	10. Chapter 10

“What’s wrong with him?”

Ganondorf stood in the Great Fairy cave by the Great Bay. So different than the ones back home, this one glowed and flowed with waves of magic and energy; not sealed away or hidden from travelers. Still, in this one it was silent, and his voice echoed as he stared at the reflection in the water.

It wasn’t his.

It was the Great Fairy staring up at him.

Slowly, she emerged from the water. It dripped down her long frame, running down the curves of her breasts and her hips. She finally finished, rolling onto her belly and she smiled sweetly down at Ganondorf.

“You saved our hero. He’s such a kind boy.”

“He’s never been here before.” Ganondorf narrowed his gaze.

“He has. Many, many times. He worked so hard to make us and our sisters whole in the span of three days.”

“But he’s never been _here_ before,” Ganondorf said.

“No. Not _now_. But he has. He was.” The Great Fairy sighed.

“He’s sick.”

“He’s in heat.” She winked. “You alphas know how to tend to omegas in their times of need, do you not? We _know_ you will be sweet to him. ”

Heat crawled up Ganondorf’s neck. He clenched his fist before he cleared his throat. “That isn’t what I mean. He’s confused. He’s talking about different _times_ and places I’ve never heard of. He speaks of twilight realms and of being a rabbit.”

The smile that had been on the Great Fairy’s lips turned to a narrow line as Ganondorf spoke. Her painted face paled as she straightened in the air.

“What else has he said?”

“That he has killed me, that which I know.” Ganondorf paused, he frowned. “He doesn’t want to do it anymore. It’s almost like he’s trapped in different worlds, or _times_.”

“Take him home.”

“To Kokiri forest?”

“To your kingdom, Gerudo King. Look to _your_ magic to help him. I will speak with my sisters. This should not be happening.” The Great Fairy scowled, the vines around her body quaking with her fury. She turned and dove into the water, almost splashing Ganondorf with it.

He stepped back, then another, before he turned on his heel and stalked out of the cave to the boat waiting outside for him. It was piloted by a Gerudo guard from the nearby fortress.

“Sire, did you find out what she wanted?” She asked.

“We’re to go home. You will maintain your post at the fortress, I’ll send some more recruits for training and security, and expansion into Ikana. But my guest and I leave at dawn.” He instructed.

The Gerudo woman nodded and turned the boat towards land while Ganondorf gave the cave one last glance.

* * *

_Dawn of the first day. Three days remaining._

Link stared up at the full moon. It looked so peaceful in the sky. Not like it would crash to the ground at any moment.

He giggled. He couldn’t stop it. The sound bubbled up from his chest and escaped his lips, filling the night air with the sound of his laughter.

“What’s funny?” Ganondorf’s voice rumbled against his back, his breath stirring the top of Link’s hair.

They were in the back of a covered wagon designed to look like one that belonged to a normal merchant and not the Gerudo King. A female guard wearing commoner hyrulian styled clothes sat in the front, keeping the wagon and horses on track. Another guard, also dressed as a hyrulian, brought up the rear on horseback behind the wagon.

Link was curled on a nest of blankets and pillows in the back, but he could see the moon from the opening of the back curtain. Ganondorf was behind. His presence, and scent, was oddly calming, but Link was ever so tired. He couldn’t sleep. He’d been sick with his heat and just now becoming normal.

Had he ever been normal?

Maybe there was something in the milk.

“The _moon_.” Link breathed. “It’s not falling.”

He felt Ganondorf shift slightly to catch a glimpse of the moon. Link smiled to himself.

“At the dawn of the fourth day, it falls. Unless it’s stopped and the Oath to Order is played.” The smile slipped from Link’s lips. “But that was my fairy ocarina. The one Saria gave me when I left.”

“Where is it now?”

“Impa took it from me when I left the ranch.”

“And you can use it to stop the moon?” Ganondorf continued, his voice low, but curious.

“It’s to summon the giants. They hold it up so I can speak with the children and give them masks. I became a deity. I was almost as tall as you.” Link sighed. “It hurt to pull the mask off.”

“Do you know when you are?”

“When?” Link frowned slightly.

“Right now.”

Link slowly blinked. He raised his left hand. The Triforce of courage glowed softly in the moonlight.

“When I left the Temple of Time, it took me a long time to remember how to move. How to roll, how to jump, how to fight. The Master Sword is so heavy. It was my body, but it was different. I found scars that I didn’t remember. My muscles ached in ways I didn’t know they could. My hands…” Link curled his hand into a fist, “felt so different. But they were mine. And only mine.” Link dropped his hand to his chest. “I’m… _here_. Now. But… I never talk this much.” Link rolled his head to the side. He paused as he met Ganondorf’s curious gaze. His stomach dropped. His mouth dry. “I only told Malon about what happened, but not all of it. Nobody understands. Navi did…”

“Your fairy?”

Link nodded again. “Father sent her to guide me. She’s always been with me.”

“The Great Deku Tree?” Ganondorf said slowly.

“Yes. Our father. He raised us. What was in the milk?”

Ganondorf sighed. “A very strong heat suppressant. You were too sick and rambling about worlds. This will lessen the effect of your heat, but the side-effects make people talk and speak honestly.”

“Will you kill me?” Link didn’t blink.

Weary amusement entered Ganondorf’s gold eyes. “Why would I do that?”

“Because we always kill each other.”

“Do you want me to?”

Link frowned slightly. He looked to his hand and rubbed the triforce symbol. “…I don’t know. I don’t feel right. Where are we going?”

“Back to my Kingdom.”

An unknown pressure eased in Link at Ganondorf’s words. He swallowed and nodded. Suddenly the world around him swirled and Link gasped as a wave of dizziness washed over him like a wave. He opened his mouth to yell out when a heavy hand covered his eyes and Ganondorf’s voice was close to his ear.

“Listen to me, Link. You are sick. You need to rest. Close your eyes.”

“I-I can’t, the dreams, _I don’t know what is real anymore._ ” Link rasped in Kokiri.

“Sleep, Link. Sleep.” Ganondorf whispered, his voice shifting to low and rumbling.

Link gasped again, this time with the magic covering him. He could only grab Ganondorf’s wrist before darkness surrounded him and swallowed him whole and slept took hold.

* * *

Link awoke to darkness and _silence._ He shifted slightly, blinking slowly as he sat up. The air tasted different. It felt _hotter_ and _dry_. He swallowed and pushed back the blankets that covered him. He slowly crept to the edge of the wagon and pushed back the heavy fabric that sealed away the night. His breath caught in his throat at the familiar sight of the entrance to the haunted wasteland.

 _How long had he slept_?

A snap of firewood caught his attention and he looked to the sound.

There was a small campfire. Ganondorf sat before it wearing a long black cloak edged with white, green, and blue designs. It covered half of his face and draped down across his shoulder and back. He was staring into the flames while the two Gerudo guards that had accompanied him slept together by the edge of the fire on a blanket.

Link crawled out of the wagon and slipped onto the ground. His bare feet sank into the soft sand before he padded around the wagon and silently approached the campfire.

Ganondorf glanced at him, surprise on his face.

“You’re awake.”

Link nodded. He shivered, realizing then just how cold the night was and his thin tunic and pants were thin. He paused and looked at them. Who had dressed him? Where had they come from?

“Here,” Ganondorf said. He raised his cloak, offering a space, and warmth, at his side.

Link hesitated before a gust of wind came up and caught the sand, cascading it done the endless dunes and sending sparks of the fire dancing over the wasteland. Without a word, he crept closer to the alpha and knelt onto the sand. Ganondorf draped the cloak over Link and in that moment he was engulfed with the protection of it and the warmth radiating off of the Gerudo King.

They stared at the fire together, watching the flames flicker and dance.

“It’s like Din’s magic.” Link whispered.

“You’ve used her power?” Ganondorf asked.

“Yes. She blessed me with it. Why are we here?”

“Because to get to the Gerudo Kingdom, we have to pass through here,” Ganondorf explained.

Link shifted on the sand. “The kingdom is in the spirit temple?”

“Almost, but not quite. It’s past there. Deeper into the desert.”

“There’s nothing else in the desert.” Link raised his head, confusion on his features.

“There is. We’ll traverse the wasteland in the morning and leave an offering for the dead, then continue on past the temple and to home.” Ganondorf explained.

“What if I don’t want to go?” Link asked suddenly.

Ganondorf said nothing, his expression unreadable. Finally, after several minutes of silence, he looked to Link, his eyes dark, his face illuminated and cast with shadows.

“Where would you go?”

Link opened his mouth to answer but faltered. Ganondorf continued.

“Where would you go that you would be safe? Where would you go where you wouldn’t be hunted down and used as a weapon or _sold_ once more? Where would you go, _hero_?”

Link bowed his head, unable to answer.

“Then you will come with me,” Ganondorf said.

“Why did you buy me at the auction?” Link touched the sand with his fingers. He sunk his fingers into it, surprised at how cool it was the further he went down.

“You saved me, remember? Besides, it seems our fates are intertwined.”

“We _kill_ each other.” Link hissed.

“And in twilight? Did we kill each other then?” Ganondorf lowered his voice to a rumble.

It made Link shiver.

“Twilight?”

“You mentioned it in your heat.”

Link wrinkled his nose. He brought his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. “We…we were wrestling. Fighting.”

“Fighting.”

“Yes. My clothing was shredded and you were on top and I-I felt weak, and, and…” Link faltered.

“It seems we do not always kill each other, hero, but we do suffer little deaths.” Ganondorf mused.

“Fairies can stop that.” Link glanced at Ganondorf. He waited until those gold eyes were on his before he continued. “If you capture them in a jar, they help you heal. Even if you’re near death.”

The fire crackled.

“There are other types of death.” Ganondorf murmured. “Some pleasurable.”

Link stared at him. He wanted to object. Dying always hurt. He was going to make his point when a shift of movement beyond the dunes caught his attention. He tilted his head, frowning at the wavering image before a Poe slowly peeked over the edge and waved at him.

A small smile drifted across Link’s face at the sight. He raised his hand and waved back.

“You see it too?”

Link nodded. “Yes. It helped me across the wasteland before. It’s not like other poes; it helps guide people. I would have gotten lost without its help.”

“Was this then?”

“Yes.”

“And now?”

“I think… I think it wants to help.” Link said.

“What else can you communicate with?” Ganondorf peered down at Link.

Link pulled the cloak around him just a bit tighter, keeping the cool breeze away. “The Zora, the Goron’s, the Kokiri, cows, poes, deku shrubs, ghosts…”

“So all things Hylian’s cannot?”

Link raised his head in surprise. He looked to Ganondorf. “But I’m not a Hylian, I’m a Kokiri.”

“You age like a Hylian.”

“That’s because I left the forest.”

“Hmm.” Ganondorf tore his gaze away and looked to the flame once more.

Link swallowed. He shifted on the sand. There was something wrong. Something he was missing. He could almost taste it but he couldn’t _place_ it.

“Why did you really save me? From the auction?”

“Because you saved me from madness.”

“But _I’m_ going mad, aren’t I?” Link whispered. “The Goddess of Time…she’s always been with me. She’s kept me safe and given her blessing of song. The Great Fairies said Farore had always watched over me, all my lives. That she would always be with me, had always been, and will always be.” Link’s voice cracked. “She said she knew my life was hard and she would bless me. But I don’t…I don’t think she understands. There are a thousand strands like a ball of yarn, and I’m in the center, and every time I dream or _breathe_ , I’m pulled apart, and sometimes…sometimes I lose track and I don’t know _where_ I am or _when_ I am.”

Link drew in a shuddering breath, his heart aching, his body trembling. He clenched a handful of sand as he stared at the fire. “How can I be blessed by the goddesses and carry the triforce of courage, when I am nothing more than a shadow of what was and what will be? A shade lost in time?”

A heavy hand curled around his shoulder and pulled him closer to Ganondorf. Link let him. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head to the alphas shoulder. He drew in another deep breath and whimpered as the hand moved up and stroked his hair. It was so _kind_ and _soothing_. But _why_? What was wrong with him? Link shouldn’t be talking, sharing this with his enemy: Ganondorf. The wicked being that Link had promised Zelda he would trap. That he would kill. He did kill.

Would _always_ kill.

Because that was his destiny, right? To kill Ganondorf? That was what the Sages had said.

Saria gave her life.

 _Saria wasn’t a sage in this life_.

Link whined low and weak in his throat. Saria would be so disappointed in him. He had lost her ocarina. And Malon… Malon had saved him and Talon had given him a home. He let go of the sand and curled a hand in Ganondorf’s shirt. He clung to it instead and shook, biting back sobs as Ganondorf stroked his hair and kept him close.

* * *

“What do you mean he was taken by the Gerudo King?”

Luis cowered in the shadow of his cell. His handsome features now bruised, his hair cut. His clothes were that of bloody and ruined tunics taken from other prisoners.

“Explain.” Impa stood before his cell, her arms crossed, her narrow gaze focused on him and him alone. The dungeon stunk of terror and _death_.

“It-it was during the funeral, he-he was kid-kidnapped during the night.” Luis whimpered. “I had invited him, and, and we were drinking milk when the Gerudo women, they, they _attacked_ us. And, and the King was with them! He took them!”

“It must have been very frightening,” Zelda soothed as she stepped closer to the cell.

“O-Oh your majesty! Princess!” Luis crawled on his hands and knees. He bowed, his forehead pressing against the stone floor. “It was. It was terrifying.”

“There, there,” Zelda hushed. She reached between the bars and stroked his shaved head.

Luis slowly lifted his head, his eyes brimming with tears. “Your majesty, please have mercy.”

“Of course,” Zelda smiled. She withdrew her hand from the cage and clasped her hands together in front of her. “Now, tell me about the auction.”

Luis stared.

Impa slammed her fist against the bars causing Luis to jump.

Luis looked from Impa to Princess Zelda. “Y-Your Majesty?”

Impa spoke instead. “We know a heat sick omega matching Link’s description and _details_ were brought to auction at a Milk Bar in Termina. Now speak.”

“Tell us what he _did_.”

Luis lowered his gaze to the floor, his shoulders crumpling in on himself.

“The…the Gerudo King paid in diamonds,” Luis whispered. “Sacks of it. He picked Link up in his arms and carried him out of the auction house.”

“And did he fight? Did Link struggle?” Zelda pushed.

Luis raised his head, his gaze bleak. “No, your majesty. Link clung to the Gerudo King like he was the only thing keeping him grounded in this world.”

“And? What else?”

“The last… the last I heard was that a fisherman saw the Gerudo King and his women at a villa at the Great Bay. It seemed that they were waiting for something. He…” Luis paused. He swallowed. “He said he could smell heat sick omega.”

Zelda stepped away and Impa followed right behind her as they left the cell room.

Luis cowered, his hands covering his head as he began to cry.

“Princess,” Impa began but Zelda waved her hand at her.

“We still have time. They couldn’t have crossed the desert yet. We’ll use our magic. We’ll summon a great fairy if we need to. We can still take Link back.”

“Princess!” Impa caught Zelda’s wrist causing Zelda to freeze. “We _can’t_ cross the desert! It’s infused with Gerudo magic and there are spirits that haunt the wasteland.”

“Their magic—” Zelda began.

“Is not like _ours_.” Impa finished. “It isn’t cast in light or imbued with the wisdom of the sages. They use dark, primal magic.”

“ _Blood_ magic.” Zelda spat. She yanked her hand free of Impa’s grasp and began pacing back and forth. Her silken skirts dragging along muck of the space beneath the well. “What would Ganondorf have planned for Link? Link is of the forest, of magic and he carries the triforce of courage. He is the hero of time. He is destined to kill Ganondorf, so _why would the Gerudo King take him_?!” Zelda screamed.

“Maybe the records will know? Surely there is something within the royal archive that might help. Your grace and wisdom will guide us, Princess. It always has.” Impa soothed.

“Yes, yes, maybe you are right…” Zelda muttered. She glanced at the door. “I want him punished.”

“Of course, your majesty.” Impa bowed.

Zelda turned, her many skirts flowing with the movement, the tips now stained beyond repair as she marched back towards the entrance of the shadow temple.

* * *

“Have you ever seen Gerudo magic?”

“Just your lightning, and your mothers’ fire and ice magic.” Link was two steps behind Ganondorf as they crossed the wasteland heading towards the stone monument in the middle. Link wore the thick black cloak to protect himself from the biting cold and winds that rushed and swept around them, almost threatening to cast them adrift.

“So just the elemental magic,” Ganondorf called back.

Whereas Link was sure they would get lost beneath the starry night, Ganondorf had no such qualms. The alpha was striding through the sand without fear or worry; confident in each and every step that led them deeper into the wasteland.

Link didn’t understand why he had taken to crying over everything. Or why he felt he could confide himself to the man he had killed, would kill, did kill, over and over. Maybe that was why though; maybe that was their bond and why he could tell Ganondorf these things and no one else, not even Navi.

So he followed Ganondorf into the desert, the two Gerudo guards awoken and told to join the others at the Valley Fortress at dawn. They couldn’t take the carriage any further or else they would lose it amongst the sand.

Link stumbled, so caught up in his thoughts he didn’t realize he was falling until a large hand grasped his. He looked up, startled. Ganondorf had him, but it was the faint glow of the triforce of power atop Ganondorf’s hand that made Link really stare. Their hands glowed, pulsating slightly and Link realized with a jolt that it was their heartbeats. He jerked his hand away and hugged the cloak tight around himself.

“It’s over the next dune,” Ganondorf said. He continued walking and Link followed as the storm began to grow stronger.

When they arrived, the sand was almost blinding. Ganondorf led them towards the safety of the stone building where they climbed down the ladder. It was far cooler beneath the stone altar and Link shivered, bouncing on his feet. It was pitch dark too and Link didn’t like the dark, he hated the dark, there were _things_ in the dark and—

A spark of fire caught his attention, making him look towards it. It was a palm-sized orb of fire glowing softly, its flames casting shadows along the walls, and revealing Ganondorf’s face.

“I learned this as a boy, when my mothers’ no longer feared I would set the palace on fire,” he said. He cut the fire in half with his other palm and held the flames in both hands. He stepped further into the room and lit first one, then a second torch, and light-filled the room.

Link sighed in relief. No more hidden shadows.

“We Gerudo have different gods than the Hylians,” Ganondorf began as his fingers reached for the buttons of his shirt. “We seek Din’s fire and protection, Nayru’s love in affairs of the heart, and Farore’s safe travels, but we also have the horse goddess Malanya, and a few horned spirits.” Ganondorf’s lips twisted into a smirk. He pulled his shirt up, unbuttoning the rest, and easily slipped it off of his broad shoulders. He held the garment to Link. “Hold this, will you?”

Link stared, frozen in time, staring at Ganondorf’s body and the tattoos and images that covered his exposed flesh. Tattoos of ocean waves curled around his large biceps and words Link thought looked familiar but were from a very long time ago were scribed along his back in ink, while a fine line of red hair trailed from his belly button down to the waist of his leather riding pants.

“ _Hero_ ,” Ganondorf said in Kokiri.

Link snapped his gaze up, his cheeks burning. He grabbed the shirt, mindful of touching Ganondorf’s fingers, and brought it close.

Ganondorf smirked again and turned back to the two torches.

Link brought the shirt up to his nose and tentatively sniffed it, his mind wheeling at the alphas scent and magic that clung to the fabric. It was so distracting; he didn’t notice that Ganondorf was kneeling on the stone until he began to speak in a language Link didn’t understand.

And Link knew a lot of them.

He watched, trying to remember to breathe. Ganondorf tipped his head back, chanting, his hands held upward in offering, the words and tattoos along his shoulders and arms began glowing softly with blue light, the triforce of power glowed brighter on his hand.

The room around them began to swirl and glow. It curled around Link, around his ankles and he whimpered as it brushed along his flesh, teasing and tempting. He pressed himself against a corner, and buried his face in Ganondorf’s shirt again, losing himself to the scent.

When Ganondorf stopped, Link peeked up, his eyes growing wide at the blue creature hovering before him. It looked like Navi, like a fairy, but older and covered in scales and wasps of light. It chittered at Ganondorf and Ganondorf reached for his boot and withdrew a small danger. He cut his arm and let the blood drip down his fingertips to pool in his palm. Only then did he offer his hand and the blue creature cooed and bent to lap at the blood. Satisfied, the creature chittered at Ganondorf again and curled into a ball before it shot up the ladder and into the night sky.

“Come here, Link.” Ganondorf’s voice was rocky, almost drunk.

Link swallowed. He was frozen on the spot and would have remained there, but Ganondorf tilted his head, the charms in his hair glinting in the light, his blown pupils catching Link.

“Come here, _fairy_.” He purred, the word pulled deep from within his chest.

A punch to the gut would have been less devastating. Link whimpered, his feet betraying him as he stepped closer to Ganondorf. His whole body was shaking as he knelt next to the big alpha.

Ganondorf turned, his eyes locked on Link’s and Link was trapped, caught in his gaze like a great serpent. His heart pounded against his chest, his mouth parted as Ganondorf caught his chin with one hand and the other sunk into his blond hair.

The air crackled around them. Ganondorf’s power filling the room, almost drowning them both with it. Link dropped the shirt and reached for the alphas hand. He clung to it as magic swirled around him, blue light sweeping around their bodies.

Ganondorf, eyes dark, lips parted, pressed his lips against Link’s. Sparks of energy danced along their lips and Link _moaned_. It was like tasting lightning and thunder. He clung to both wrists framing his face and squeezed his eyes shut, his heart pounding, and his blood singing. He had never felt this before. Had never been touched like this before. His body began to ache, his thighs becoming slick, his cock—

He pulled away, tried to anyway, but Ganondorf’s hand was firm on his jaw keeping him in place while his other slipped into his thin tunic pants and stroked him just as he had done by the ocean. Link bucked his hips, crying out into the kiss. He rose on his knees, his hips jerking in time with Ganondorf’s strokes and rubbing along the crown of his dick. His belly ached, he wanted more—

_\--he wanted to be one cold marble and cast in twilight with sharp teeth attacking his neck and hands bruising his flesh—_

_\--laid out on a golden field while his legs spread apart by knowing hands—_

_\--devoured in shadow—_

_\--made whole in light—_

_\--time trapped in a bottle of sand—_

_\--pretty hero in jewels and silk—_

Link wretched his mouth away from Ganondorf’s and groaned low and long as he rutted into the large hand. Lips trailed along his cheek bone, breath hot against his face. Link thrust his hips and spilled his seed onto the hand before he collapsed into Ganodorf’s arms, panting against bare flesh, his body trembling and jerking with small aftershocks.

“Look here, _hero_ ,” Ganondorf purred into his ear.

Link raised his head, panting and flushed with heat. He flushed darker when he saw his seed mingling with Ganondorf’s blood on his hand. He let out a gasp as Ganondorf licked the blood and seed.

“My blood, _my power_ , your cum, those who hunt you will not find you amongst the sand, _my sand_. My kingdom.” Ganondorf purred.

A small voice, a timid and quaking voice inside of Link whispered ‘ _be brave_ ’ and so Link, unsteady, weak as a newborn calf, raised himself and licked the sticky and bloody palm, mimicking Ganondorf’s actions. His nose wrinkled at the copper of the blood and he shivered at the taste of his own, what had Ganondorf called it? Cum? He licked the alphas hand clean, trembling at the combined tastes. When he finished, he glanced at Ganondorf and wished he hadn’t.

“Oh, _hero_ , what magic we will make.” Ganondorf’s eyes glittered gold in the fire's light.

To be continued…


	11. Chapter 11

Link panicked.

Rabbit heart pounding, agile as a wolf, Link bolted up the ladder and Ganondorf let him.

He got to the top, the desert illuminated in light. The blue-winged creature was above, dancing in the night sky. It looked like a dragon, almost like Volvagia. He stumbled out, heart pounding, _shaking_.

A movement from the corner of his eye and he realized it was the Poe who guided people towards the spirit temple. It beckoned him and Link followed, racing amongst the sand and the quiet night.

He didn’t stop running. The sun started to rise with him. The Poe, this time, led him to the spirit temple. It chirped at him and drifted back towards the wasteland. Panting and thirsty, Link spied the open path to the Great Fairy’s fountain and he headed towards it, never once realizing the creatures that had attacked him before were silent beneath the surface.

It was cool within the fountain. A blessing of sanctuary from the sun and winds. He dropped next to the waters’ edge and scooped the water with both hands, greedily drinking to sake his thirst.

It only partially worked.

It filled his belly and his parched throat, but it didn’t erase the glittering eyes from Link’s mind or the rumbling voice whispering into his ear. He shuddered, shaking his head. Ganondorf, his voice, his eyes, _his hands_. Link whimpered and dunked his head into the crisp and clear water, hoping it would soothe the madness growing in him.

He jerked when he felt a hand on his neck and Link fell back onto his feet, sputtering as he looked to the source of the hand through his blond damp hair.

A Great Fairy smiled sympathetically down at Link, her lips tilted in a sheepish smile, her eyebrows brought together in concern. “Are you alright?”

“I-I, you, this _time_ ,” Link waved at the entrance to the fountain.

The Great Fairy nodded in understanding. “It has always been opened. It was not sealed, _this time_.” The Great Fairy said in Kokiri.

It calmed Link. He drew himself to his knees, his hands curling into fists on his lap.

“ _Did you know what would happen to me? This time?”_ He hated how his voice wavered, but the Great Fairies had always been kind to him.

“ _How do you mean?”_ She tilted her head, her hair flowing around her. “ _That you would be treated so poorly by those who want you for war? We, our sisters, we knew this. We’ve seen it, our Hero. For make no mistake, you are ours just as you are Farore’s and the Goddess of Time champion.”_

 _“Then… you sent me away, to Malon’s on purpose?”_ Link frowned.

“ _Yes. We only wanted you to heal, our Heart. To give you a chance to live after all you have seen and done.”_ The Great Fairy bowed her head. “ _But it seems there have been some…complications.”_

 _“Am I going mad?”_ Link whispered.

“ _No, no, no, Dear Heart.”_ The Great Fairy soothed. She lowered herself, inches from Link’s face. “ _The Goddess of Time, she… her powers and blessing are intricate. Like a web with her as the spider in the center, weaving and growing as time expands and changes. We, my sisters and I, we have torn a hole in her web so she is rebuilding and patching and the threads have crossed.”_

“ _So I… I’m just a fly? The Goddess, she… she, I’m not,”_ Link’s voice cracked. His heart was crushing, his world falling around him. The Goddess had always been there, always looked on him, and gave her blessing so often…

The Great Fairy reached out and stroked Link’s hair, brushing it away from his face. “ _No, Dear Heart. She carries you upon her back because the web she builds is for you. You are always there, in every time, in every world, in every battle, splintered and whole as one. She will never abandon you, just as Farore will never turn her back to you, just as We, my sisters and I, will never turn on you.”_

 _“Then what is wrong with me?”_ Link leaned into the touch, his body burning, and exhaustion building in every piece of him.

“ _You are lost in time, Sweet One, and we are not sure how to save you but hope is not lost.”_

Link swallowed, his Adams apple bobbing in his throat. He shut his eyes against the worried face of the Great Fairy. At least he knew now what was going on. He understood why he knew things he shouldn’t know.

“ _Ganondorf—”_

_“He is handsome.”_

Lashes fluttering, Link paused at the words. He frowned at the Great Fairy’s face as worry eased into a knowing smile.

“ _Ganondorf—”_ Link tried again.

“ _A strong alpha. Kind. Gifted you with emeralds, did he not? Saved you with diamonds mined by skilled Gorons.”_ She continued.

Link blinked. He hadn’t known that. Hadn’t realized it. Diamonds though… and the Gorons? Did he work with them? Or did he enslave them?

“Ganondorf—”

“ _Has strong, careful hands.”_ The Great Fairy’s smile widened as Link flushed. “ _Is he warm?”_

 _“Hot.”_ Link whispered, his cheeks burning as he averted his gaze. “ _We…he and I… in the wasteland…”_

_“Oh? What did you two do?”_

_“I think we made magic, but I don’t know.”_ Link quietly confessed.

“ _What spells did you cast?”_

 _“We-we mixed his, his blood, and my, my,”_ burning as red as the death mountain crater, Link gestured to his pants. “ _My seed_.”

The Great Fairy stared at Link. The only sound quieting to the sound of the fountain’s bubbling water.

“ _Oh… oh Dear Heart. You must promise me two things before you continue on your journey.”_

Link snapped his head up, his eyes wide. “ _What?”_

“ _The first is that you only make magic freely. He does not pressure you, he does not force you. Do you understand? You make your magic freely.”_

Confused, Link nodded slowly. “ _Yes.”_

 _“The second is that if you are ever scared, if he ever hurts you, or you are afraid, you come to us. We will protect you.”_ The Great Fairy raised slightly, her gaze intent.

 _“O-Of course. But I can fight. I’ve done it before.”_ Link argued.

“ _As you did with that one in Kakariko?”_

Shame coiled in Link’s gut and he bowed his head. That’s what she meant. Except if Ganondorf had done to him what Luis had then Link… Link wouldn’t have been able to fight back and nobody would have come to his rescue.

“ _Dear Heart, look at me.” The Great Fairy cooed._

Link reluctantly lifted his head.

“ _He, like you, carries a heavy burden. He, like you, carries the Triforce with him. But, unlike you, he has the knowledge and experience of how to handle and use it. Let him help you. Let him guide you. Let him comfort you as you desire.”_

_“I don’t—”_

_“Do you wished to be bathed in twilight?”_

Link knew what the Great Fairy meant. He understood it. He just didn’t understand _what_ she meant.

“ _It…it made me feel strange.”_ Link confessed. “ _I’ve never felt like that before.”_

“ _He will do many things that will feel strange at first, but pleasurable later. As I’m sure you already know.”_ She winked at Link.

“ _O-oh… wait, what do you mean he will do many things? What else is there?”_ Link frowned.

“ _He is waiting by the temple for you. Go to him. Let him guide you. He will help. We will speak again, Hero.”_ The Great Fairy laughed and dove into the water once more, leaving Link alone in the fountain.

Link sat on the ground, staring at the water. He sighed and slowly stood up, his body protesting and _needy_. He scowled as he turned around and headed for the entrance. How would he explain to Ganondorf and did the Great Fairy mean what she said? That he… he wouldn’t have to kill Ganondorf again? He didn’t know why, but the thought eased a tight knot in the middle of his chest. Ganondorf was to _help_ him _this_ time. And Link… Link needed help, especially if he was lost in time.

When he emerged from the cave, he found Ganondorf standing in the shadow of the archway before the Spirit Temple. He was leaning against it, fully dressed, the cloak tossed over one shoulder. Link raised his hand to shield his face from the sun as his feet sunk into the sand.

Ganondorf turned to him when Link approached, worry and regret on his features. “Link, what happened in the wasteland shouldn’t—”

“The Great Fairy said the Goddess of Time is a spider, and she and her sisters destroyed the webbing, so now I’m falling and lost while the Goddess of Time works to build another web for me. Will you help me?” Link said.

There was no point in lying or denying the truth. And maybe Ganondorf _did_ know more magic things than Link could ever hope for. Link had been built to fight and without Navi to help guide him…he needed help.

He should have asked the Great Fairy about Navi. Link frowned.

“If that is what you want. Yes.” Ganondorf said slowly.

Link nodded. He reached for the cloak and hesitated when Ganondorf instead pulled it off his shoulder and covered Link with it, protecting him from the sand and harsh sun.

“Then take me home.”

To be continued…


End file.
